When you move out or sell your flat, the wall-box charger is usually yours to take, but almost nothing else is. The cable run, the conduit, the wall penetrations, the earthing work and any change to sanctioned load stay with the premises. A sub-meter may belong to you, to the society or to the distribution company, depending on who paid and whose name it is in. What is actually permitted at exit is decided by the permission letter your society issued when you installed. Read that letter early, settle the final meter reading, agree with the buyer or landlord whether the point stays, and get the removal or transfer recorded in writing.
Your charging point is four separate things
Residents talk about "my charger" as one object. At handover it behaves as four, each with a different owner and a different person who must agree.
The charger unit
The wall-box or socket is a movable appliance. If you paid for it, it sits on your invoice with its own warranty, and it can be unmounted once a licensed electrician has isolated and disconnected the circuit. What you cannot take is the circuit feeding it.
The supply route
The cable from the board to your bay, the conduit, the penetrations and the isolator are fixed to common property. Once installed with permission they are part of the building, and pulling them out means making good the wall, the paint and any fire-stopping, work a licensed electrician must scope for your specific site. The options are compared in cable routing for apartment EV chargers.
The sub-meter
Ask whose name is on it and who paid for it. A society-owned sub-meter stays and is simply read out and closed in your name. One you paid for may be yours to keep, but that turns on whose name it stands in and on your society's own by-laws, so put the question to the committee in writing. Taking it also leaves the society unable to bill the next user. See own meter, sub-meter or common meter.
The load sanction
If sanctioned load was increased for charging, the change belongs to the electricity connection rather than to you. Do not assume it will be reduced when you leave, and do not budget for a refund of what was paid to obtain it: what is possible depends on your DISCOM's own procedure, so ask them before counting on either. Treat the increase as a permanent improvement to the premises, as in sanctioned load and EV charging.
| Component | Usually belongs to | What happens when you leave | Who signs off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charger unit | You, if you bought it | Take it, sell it to the buyer, or leave it in writing | You and the buyer or tenant |
| Cable, conduit, isolator | The building | Stays in place, capped and made safe if unused | Society, on the electrician's note |
| Sub-meter | Whoever paid and applied | Final reading taken, account settled, meter left in place | Society accounts |
| Load increase | The premises | Expect it to stay; ask your DISCOM about anything else | Your DISCOM, if you pursue it |
| Permission letter | You, as named resident | Lapses or transfers, depending on its wording | Managing committee |
The permission letter is the real contract
Exit disputes tend to start with a permission letter that only covered installation and stopped there. Two years later nobody can say whether the wiring must come out, who owns the sub-meter, or whether the next owner inherits the right to charge it.
If you are installing now, this is the cheapest thing to fix. Ask for exit terms in the letter you are already negotiating, as you work through how to request EV-charger permission from your RWA.
- Whether permission attaches to you personally or to the flat and its bay.
- Whether a later owner or tenant may keep using the point, and on what intimation.
- Whether fixed wiring must be removed on exit or may be left capped and isolated.
- Who owns the sub-meter, and what happens to it when your account closes.
- That any reinstatement deposit is refundable on the electrician's note.
If your letter is silent, ask the committee to record the wording in the minutes now rather than at the sale. A committee working through the clause-by-clause policy walkthrough can settle the rule for everybody at once.
Selling the flat: three ways it can go
A working charging point is a feature rather than a liability for a buyer who already drives an EV, and of little interest to one who does not. The mistake is leaving the question until possession day, when the buyer assumes the charger is included and you assumed it was not.
| Option | Leave everything | Take unit, leave wiring | Remove everything |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buyer gets | A point usable on day one | A capped circuit ready for any unit | A bare wall |
| Your cost | Nil, but you leave an asset | An electrician's visit to disconnect and cap | Removal, making good, repainting |
| Paperwork | Transfer intimation, final reading | Intimation, final reading, safety note | Reinstatement sign-off, deposit release |
| Usual friction | Buyer expects it free | Their unit may not suit the circuit | Committee objects to the finishes |
Say the outcome plainly in the sale discussion, and if the charger is included, list it as a fitting. Do not describe the circuit's capacity from memory; hand over the installation note and let the buyer's electrician verify it, as set out in what an electrician checks in a site assessment.
Leaving a rented flat
Tenants face the same four components, plus a landlord. If you installed at your own cost, the wall-box is normally yours; the fixed work is usually treated as the landlord's, because it is built into a property you do not own. Your tenancy agreement settles that, so agree it at the outset rather than at the door.
The workable arrangement, agreed before installation, is that you fund and own the unit, the landlord permits the fixed work and inherits it, and you leave the wiring capped; the negotiation is set out in the guide to renting a flat with an EV. Before you hand back the keys, take the sub-meter reading with the landlord or caretaker present and get the figure acknowledged on the handover paper.
If you do remove it: de-installation done safely
Removing a charging point is electrical work on a dedicated circuit, not a job for a handyman with a screwdriver, and a cable left hanging in a stilt or basement bay is a hazard to everybody. A licensed electrician must assess the specific site and carry out the work; nothing here replaces that.
- Isolate at the source, not at the wall switch, and confirm the circuit is dead.
- Cap and insulate cable ends inside an enclosure, never with tape in a conduit.
- Make good the wall and restore fire-stopping where the cable crossed a slab.
- Ask for a written note of what was disconnected and what was left safe.
That note is what the committee needs before releasing any deposit; a verbal assurance that the wiring is dead protects nobody. If a protective device was added for your point, say whether it remains and what it now protects, using the terms in RCCB, MCB and RCBO explained.
Closing the meter and the society account
If charging was billed through a society sub-meter, ask for the account to be closed on a stated reading and date, not on an estimate. The opening reading, closing reading, rate applied and total should appear on one paper signed by you and by whoever handles society accounts.
Suppose your society bills charging at ₹9 per unit — an assumed figure for the sum below, not a rate that applies anywhere — and your final reading shows 84 units since the last billing: that is ₹756, and you should be able to see exactly those three numbers on the statement. Substitute the rate from your own society's accounts and the units from your own meter. What a smart charger's own log can prove is discussed in sub-meter versus smart-charger billing.
The handover file
Selling, subletting or vacating, assemble one folder and hand it over.
- The society permission letter and any amendment or minute referring to it.
- The charger invoice and warranty card, if the unit is staying.
- The electrician's installation note and the circuit details recorded then.
- The final sub-meter reading with date, photographed and countersigned.
- The de-installation note, if any, and the electrician's contact details.
Common questions
Can I take my EV charger with me when I move?
The unit itself, usually yes, if you paid for it and your permission letter does not say otherwise. The fixed wiring behind it, usually no: removing cable, conduit and fixings damages common property, and many societies would rather the circuit stayed in place, capped and safe. Tell the committee in writing what you intend to remove, and have a licensed electrician disconnect it.
Does the new owner automatically get permission to use the charging point?
Not automatically. Permission is often granted to a named resident for a named bay, and it may lapse when that resident leaves. Some societies treat it as attaching to the flat and ask only for an intimation; others require a fresh application. Your society's by-laws decide this, so ask the committee to confirm the position in writing before the sale closes.
Who pays to remove the wiring, me or the society?
If the permission letter is silent, expect to be asked to pay, since you sought the work and the society allowed it on your account. If the letter says the wiring may remain, there is nothing to pay for. Where you and the committee read the letter differently, an appropriate local professional is a better referee than a corridor argument. The logic that decides who funds the original work is set out in who pays for apartment EV-charger wiring.
How do I settle the final electricity reading for my charger?
Take the sub-meter reading on handover day, photograph it with the date, and get it countersigned by the society's accounts person or the incoming resident. Ask for a closing statement showing both readings, the rate and the total. If charging ran off the flat's own connection, the reading is simply your final bill and there is nothing separate to close.
Should I mention the EV charger when listing the flat for sale?
Yes, and be specific about what is included, because vague wording invites a dispute at possession. State whether the unit stays, whether the wiring stays, and whether society permission transfers or must be applied for again.