Electric charging station not considered a customary installation

Western High Court Decision of June 11, 2024

The tenants of a social housing property unit installed an electric charging station on the exterior gable of their home in 2021 to charge their hybrid car. The tenants installed the charging station without the landlord's permission, and the house rules did not allow the installation of individual electric charging stations directly on the rented property.

The landlord demanded that the tenants removed the charging station. When the tenants did not comply, the landlord brought the case before the Tenant Complaints Board, and subsequently, the Housing Court and the High Court, claiming that the tenants must remove the charging station.

The central question in the case was whether the tenants had the right to install the charging station under Section 35 of the Public Housing Tenancy Act, which grants tenants the right to make customary installations in the rented property, unless the landlord can demonstrate that the property's electrical and drainage capacity is insufficient for the installation.

The High Court initially stated: "It must be determined based on a concrete assessment what should be considered a 'customary installation.' Commonly recognized customary installations include household appliances such as stoves, refrigerators, freezers, range hoods, washing machines, dishwashers, and tumble dryers, as well as telephone and internet access." (Translated from Danish)

The High Court further stated that it was undisputed that the charging station was installed without an agreement with the landlord and that, according to the house rules in effect when the charging station was installed, individual tenants were not allowed to install individual electric charging stations directly on to their homes.

Based on the wording of the provision and the preparatory works, including the description of what typically constitutes customary installations, the High Court found that an electric charging station does not constitute a customary installation under Section 35 of the Public Housing Tenancy Act and therefore ordered the tenants to remove the charging station.

The fact that electric cars have become more widespread in recent years could not lead to a different assessment.

Legal Status After the Judgment

A tenant has the right to make customary installations in the rented property unless the landlord can demonstrate that the property's electrical and drainage capacity is insufficient for the installation. This follows from Section 35 of the Public Housing Tenancy Act, which corresponds to Section 142, subsection 1 of the Tenancy Act (Lejelovens § 142, stk. 1), and applies regardless of whether it may otherwise conflict with the landlord's interests.

Since neither the Public Housing Tenancy Act nor the Tenancy Act defines what is meant by "customary installations," this must be determined based on a concrete assessment at the time of installation. The term should be interpreted dynamically, as the understanding of what is "customary" evolves over time.

Following the High Court's judgment, it is clear that electric charging stations do not currently constitute a customary installation under Section 35 of the Public Housing Tenancy Act. The High Court's statement that "the increasing prevalence of electric cars in recent years does not lead to a different assessment" should be understood to mean that, at the time of installation, an electric charging station could not be considered a "customary installation."

Although the prevalence of electric cars at the time of installation in 2021 did not impact the assessment of whether electric charging stations are customary installations, it is not excluded that the increasing prevalence of electric cars could influence such an assessment in the future. According to Danmarks Statistik (Statistics Denmark), there were 66,600 electric cars and 77,900 hybrid cars in Denmark in 2021. Since 2021, the number of electric cars and hybrid cars has increased significantly, with 200,100 electric cars and 123,000 hybrid cars in Denmark in 2023.

A dynamic interpretation of Section 35 of the Public Housing Tenancy Act, in line with this development, will likely lead to electric charging stations being regarded as customary installations over time.

Note: Because an electric charging station is not considered a customary installation, the High Court did not address whether the division's electrical capacity was sufficient for the installation (and possibly for other tenants' installations of electric charging stations). However, this question will become relevant if an electric charging station is later characterized as a customary installation in a legal sense.

It was argued during the case that the installation of an electric charging station fell under the tenants' right of disposal. The High Court does not appear to have addressed this issue, which may be due to the fact that the installation of a charging station had not been approved by the division's meeting as part of the right of the disposal catalog and was therefore in conflict with the current rules in the housing division.