Running electricity to garage

binft

Hi,

I have just bought a flat in a block of 6. Freehold split into 6 leaseholds. It came with a garage as part of the purchase. My question is that I keep a car in the garage and i'd like to run an extension cable (or along those lines) from my window area to the garage. Not across the grass or anything like that but i'd route it along the back fence area behind the garage. Is something like this allowed or would I need to get permission from someone? I wouldn't be running the cable along the wall of any other flats but it would in a sense run across the communal grass area to the garage.

Jeepers_Creepers

Read your leasehold deeds carefully - it might possibly outlaw having power in the garage. Some do, some don't. Also check if there are limits on what can be done with and in the garage; again, some forbid the storage of certain materials, using it as a workshop, carrying out repairs, etc. That doesn't mean you cannot do these things, but just that if you annoy another leaseholder by doing so, they will have the means to stop you. Also, if the garage burns down because you were repairing your car in there, guess how much trouble you'd be in? Yup.

If the deeds don't forbid this, then the right thing to do would still be to discuss this with the other leaseholders first, and seek their agreement. You could try doing it without this, but don't be surprised if you really annoy at least one of them.

Think of how you might feel if you found someone else had done this without consultation, and was busy angle-grinding in their garage?

What do you want - power or just lighting? For the latter, how about PIR solar lighting - very effective these days. I bought one from Lidl's the other day - remote solar panel, PIR activated BRIGHT light. Fab. £10.

Section62

binft said:

Hi,

I have just bought a flat in a block of 6. Freehold split into 6 leaseholds. It came with a garage as part of the purchase. My question is that I keep a car in the garage and i'd like to run an extension cable (or along those lines) from my window area to the garage. Not across the grass or anything like that but i'd route it along the back fence area behind the garage. Is something like this allowed or would I need to get permission from someone? I wouldn't be running the cable along the wall of any other flats but it would in a sense run across the communal grass area to the garage.

It sounds like you want to do this on a permanent basis, not for occasional as and when use (e.g. vacuuming the car).  If so then...

1) You need to check the terms of the leasehold to see whether you are allowed to have an electrical installation in the garage - there are fire risks involved in doing so, and the other leaseholders might object.

2) You need to get the consent of the freeholder(s) who own the land the cable will run across.

3) You need to confirm you will be able to get insurance cover for your electric cable on land which isn't part of your lease.

4) You'll need to get a qualified electrician to do the installation.  Whether the cable is buried in the ground or clipped to the wall will depend on how the electrician decides it is best to comply with the regulations.


2 and 3 depend in part on the decision made in 4, so you might want to get some electricians to give you a quote describing exactly what they will do, then go through the other processes before the work is done.  However, you should probably speak to the other leaseholders informally first, as if they see an electrician rooting around in the bushes without knowing what you plan to do they may take offence and try to stop you doing it just for the hell of it.

Alternatively, they might think it is a great idea and want to do the same, in which case you could all benefit from sharing some of the costs.

tacpot12

If you want to run the extension cable on a very temporary basis, i.e. for one off jobs such as running a power washer to clean your car, it will be much easier to do this that have a permanent installation. If you need a permanent installation, all the work to get one will be worth it. 

binft

Section62 said:

binft said:

Hi,

I have just bought a flat in a block of 6. Freehold split into 6 leaseholds. It came with a garage as part of the purchase. My question is that I keep a car in the garage and i'd like to run an extension cable (or along those lines) from my window area to the garage. Not across the grass or anything like that but i'd route it along the back fence area behind the garage. Is something like this allowed or would I need to get permission from someone? I wouldn't be running the cable along the wall of any other flats but it would in a sense run across the communal grass area to the garage.

It sounds like you want to do this on a permanent basis, not for occasional as and when use (e.g. vacuuming the car).  If so then...

1) You need to check the terms of the leasehold to see whether you are allowed to have an electrical installation in the garage - there are fire risks involved in doing so, and the other leaseholders might object.

2) You need to get the consent of the freeholder(s) who own the land the cable will run across.

3) You need to confirm you will be able to get insurance cover for your electric cable on land which isn't part of your lease.

4) You'll need to get a qualified electrician to do the installation.  Whether the cable is buried in the ground or clipped to the wall will depend on how the electrician decides it is best to comply with the regulations.


2 and 3 depend in part on the decision made in 4, so you might want to get some electricians to give you a quote describing exactly what they will do, then go through the other processes before the work is done.  However, you should probably speak to the other leaseholders informally first, as if they see an electrician rooting around in the bushes without knowing what you plan to do they may take offence and try to stop you doing it just for the hell of it.

Alternatively, they might think it is a great idea and want to do the same, in which case you could all benefit from sharing some of the costs.

Thanks,

do you think this would be the same sort of process if I was to install a solar solution on the roof of the garage to an inverter inside? Basically just want to keep my car battery charged so doesn't need to be a mega setup kind of thing.

TELLIT01

Even if you do only want to set up a solar solution, you will need permission of the freeholder to put the panels on the garage roof, or wherever you plan to put them.

binft

Jeepers_Creepers said:

Read your leasehold deeds carefully - it might possibly outlaw having power in the garage. Some do, some don't. Also check if there are limits on what can be done with and in the garage; again, some forbid the storage of certain materials, using it as a workshop, carrying out repairs, etc. That doesn't mean you cannot do these things, but just that if you annoy another leaseholder by doing so, they will have the means to stop you. Also, if the garage burns down because you were repairing your car in there, guess how much trouble you'd be in? Yup.

If the deeds don't forbid this, then the right thing to do would still be to discuss this with the other leaseholders first, and seek their agreement. You could try doing it without this, but don't be surprised if you really annoy at least one of them.

Think of how you might feel if you found someone else had done this without consultation, and was busy angle-grinding in their garage?

What do you want - power or just lighting? For the latter, how about PIR solar lighting - very effective these days. I bought one from Lidl's the other day - remote solar panel, PIR activated BRIGHT light. Fab. £10.

I just wanted to keep my car battery charged really. I've looked at solar chargers but not sure they would provide enough juice to charge my battery more than my alarm will drain it. I was thinking maybe a slightly bigger solar panel to a small inverter instead...

Section62

binft said:

do you think this would be the same sort of process if I was to install a solar solution on the roof of the garage to an inverter inside? Basically just want to keep my car battery charged so doesn't need to be a mega setup kind of thing.

As TELLIT01 says, you'll still have the issue of getting consent for the panels.

Also, the exact wording of the lease will be important.  An electrical installation is still an electrical installation, regardless of how the power is sourced - if using solar panels and an inverter to power a 230v AC system is deemed to be an electrical installation for the purposes of the regs and/or the lease then that is what you have to go by.

Also, as a general electrical principle, using an inverter and transformer (the battery charger) combination will result in power loss (e.g. due to heat).  So you will have to buy more powerful panels just to make up for that loss.  More powerful panels with an output suitable for battery charging would be a more efficient approach.

So, notwithstanding the permissions issue, you might want to ask solar panel suppliers - and your vehicle manufacturer - about the feasibility and safety of running multiple lower power panels in parallel.  You do need to make sure the solar charging isn't going to damage the battery and vehicle electronics before you depart from manufacturer recommendations.

The starting point is probably finding out the actual power consumption of all the vehicle systems when the vehicle is not in use.  Some vehicles will automatically power down functions like remote central locking after 'x' days of non-use.  Once you know how much power is being used you will know how much charging is required.

TELLIT01

My own experience of modern car batteries is that they hold charge pretty well even when the car is not used.  My wife's car stood for at least 3 months during the initial lockdown and started on the first attempt. 

Ectophile

It seems a bit pointless getting more panels, converting the DC they produce to AC using an inverter, only to feed that AC into a battery charger that converts it back to DC again.  And all that just to trickle charge a car battery.

casper_gutman

The only time a car of mine ever needed the battery to be kept charged, it was because the battery was twelve years old and needed replacing. Otherwise, the battery has always held charge just fine - even when the car wasn't driven for a month during lockdown.

If you're going to go to the trouble of getting permissions etc, then I'd recommend gettig a proper electrical installation that would be capable of supplying enough power to charge an electric vehicle overnight. It'd be a selling point if you needed to move house, and your next car, or the one after that, might very well need it!