Lease hold garage, frosty freeholder, getting electricty installed

richard202

Hi there, my house is freehold, my garage is about 20 metres from my house and it has no electricity to it.  I need a new car because my old one is about to die and would like a plug in hybdrid. 

However the freeholder is unhlepful, aggressive and looking to charge unreasonable sums for anything they possibly can. The garage is below a flat he rents out.  I have requested that we run electricity down from his flat and he has refused, even thoiugh we offered to pay for the installation and all electricity consumed.

Am I now stuffed?  As petrol/diesel cars are now banned from 2040 can I make appeal that he is unreasonably disrupting my quiet enjoyment of the garage? Am I clutching at straws?

Any other options open to me?

thanks

Richard

QrizB

@richard202 in summary, you lease a garage; your landlord also owns the flat over your garage; that garage is leased to another person; and you want an EV charging point installed in your garage?

So there are at least three (and possibly five) different people involved in this: you, your landlord, the flat leaseholder, and possibly your electricity company and DNO.

If your landlord allowed your EV charging point to be connected as you ask, your EV charging point would end up connected to the flat leaseholder's supply. The flat leaseholder would then be paying for your EV electricity. I don't imagine the flat leaseholder would be at all happy about this. In principle you could fit a separate meter but then there would need to be a contract between you, the flat leaseholder and your landlord covering payment for the EV electric. I suspect the flat leaseholder wouldn't like this either, and your landlord might also balk.

Given that your garage is 20 metres from your house, it may or may not be possible to run a cable from your house to the garage. You don't say whether thisa is possible, or not. This would keep the EV electricity on your DNO connection and your bill.

The only other solution I can think of is for you and your landlord to have a new, independent electricity supply connected to your garage specifically for your EV charging point. This wil involve a new DNO connection, a new meter, and a separate set of electricity bills from your electric company (or from a different company if you want a EV tariff). I don't know what a new DNO connection costs but it's not free. This would all be in addition to the cost of the EV charging point itself.

PS If I've mosunderstood your situation, apologies; it's before my first coffee of the day.

unforeseen

 I have requested that we run electricity down from his flat and he has refused, 

I don't see the freeholder being unhelpful here. Why should he allow you to tap into the electrics? As it will need to be tapped off after the meter then the tenant will end up paying. What if a prepayment meter is fitted? What guarantee is there that you will pay promptly and not fit power intensive kit into the garage? 

If you want power to the garage then ask the electric company to put a new supply in

matelodave

Both GrizB and unforseen have the answer - IMO is totally unreasonable for you to expect someone else to tap off their supply to feed your garage so you can charge your car.

As said above get his permission for the DNO to install a new supply, complete with meter etc to supply the garage at your cost. 

However he may be unhappy with that as well because there would then be the ongoing problem of him or a future tenant for the garage being stuck with a possibly unwanted electricty supply and it's attendant ongoing costs - standing charges for instance

He could therefore demand that you have it disconnected and decommisioned (again at your cost) if you decide to move or give up the garage tenancy in the future.

If you decide that you want an electric car then you shouldn't really expect other people to accomodate it,

ann_droid

Hi
Buy the leasehold on the garage if you can.

rp1974

matelodave said:

If you decide that you want an electric car then you shouldn't really expect other people to accomodate it,

Essentially this,what a cheek even asking to use a supply thats not yours.
If it was me you were asking and given the potential future issues my answer would be a very firm no,absolutely not.
Another option would be somewhere more suited to your demands,if you feel that strongly about it.

Alter_ego

I have a similar problem, I own (freehold) 2 parking spaces 20m from my house. To lay a cable to them would involve crossing the gardens of 2 houses. Any suggestions?

richard202

thanks for all your help, sorry if i wasn't clear and also apologies if i came over all freeloadery

There are only two parties involved:

Myself - freeholder of my house, leaseholder of my garage

Party B - freeholder of garage and flat above it

I'm expecting to pay for all electricty I use, my limited understanding is that it is trivial nowadays to report on how much electricity goes through car chargers

I will explore the DNO connection cost, thanks for your help

Alter_ego - all I know is that when you start laying cable under the ground it gets really costly really quickly

[Deleted User]

richard202 said:

I'm expecting to pay for all electricty I use, my limited understanding is that it is trivial nowadays to report on how much electricity goes through car chargers

What the EVSE shows may not equate to what is taken from the Grid. The only accurate way to know is to have a metered supply.

Robin9

Agree the DNO costs plus you would still need the Freeholders cooperation IMO makes this not an option.   


Go conventional in you choice of car for now and make your garage/ car charging a priority when you next move. 

MWT

richard202 said:

I'm expecting to pay for all electricty I use, my limited understanding is that it is trivial nowadays to report on how much electricity goes through car chargers

There are ways to monitor and record usage but few of them would be fully verifiable and at the very least you would expect the freeholder to want a sub-meter installed, but frankly even though I'm also an EV owner I wouldn't agree to what you are asking for, as it would also leave me liable for your usage if you didn't pay, and even if I trust you, I have no control over who might come after you if you move...

The only practical solution is to have the DNO provide a new supply and meter at your cost, and for you to undertake to pay the costs of removing the meter and terminating the supply if requested by the freeholder should you cease to be the leaseholder at some point in the future, but that does still require the freeholders approval..