The Home Ownership Modernisation Act (WEMoG – Wohneigentumsmodernisierungsgesetz) comes into force on 1 December 2020. It aims to facilitate the installation of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles in rented and owner-occupied residential property and thus implements a central goal of the federal government's Charging Infrastructure Master Plan.
Owners of apartments now have the right to make changes to the shared property and install charging infrastructure – such as the installation of a wallbox in the underground car park. In future, such structural changes will be possible with a simple majority, which can also be legally asserted, as long as the alterations do not “fundamentally alter” the housing estate or “unfairly disadvantage” other housing owners.
From now on, anyone renting an apartment can also demand that the landlord permits the installation of an electric charging point as well as measures for barrier reduction and protection against theft, at the tenants’ expense.
“Up to 85 percent of all charging procedures currently take place at home. The federal government’s new support programme for private charging stations is attracting extraordinarily great interest. This shows that people are willing to switch to electric mobility if the conditions are right. The Home Ownership Modernisation Act will now further accelerate the expansion of private charging infrastructure – we are thus placing the ‘overall charging infrastructure system’ in Germany, consisting of public and non-public charging facilities, on an even more stable foundation,” says Johannes Pallasch, who heads the German Centre for Charging Infrastructure under the umbrella of NOW GmbH, together with Dagmar Fehler.