EV charge point grants for blocks of flats: up to £500 a socket, in their final year to March 2027

What happened

The Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) runs the government’s home charge point grants. From 1 April 2026 it cut the list to five schemes and extended them “for a final year”, with funding until 31 March 2027. Two of them matter for blocks of flats:

• the residential landlord chargepoint grant, which a block company can claim for charge points in a shared car park;
• the flats and renters grant, which a leaseholder who owns and lives in their flat can claim for their own parking space.

Both now pay 75% of the cost of buying and installing a charge point, up to £500 a socket (up from £350). A landlord can claim for up to 200 sockets a year; a resident for one. The residential landlord infrastructure grant, which paid for cabling to future spaces, closed to applications on 31 March 2026. OZEV last updated its list of eligible vehicles on 2 November 2026.

What it means for your building

If the company installs charge points. The landlord guidance names RTM companies, residents’ management companies and companies that own the freehold or the common areas, including where the shareholders are the leaseholders. The company must be on Companies House or VAT registered, and must show the Land Registry title (for a freeholder) or its Companies House listing and minutes appointing the applicant (for an RTM or RMC). The guidance also says an applicant “cannot apply if you live in the property”. That line seems aimed at individual landlords, but if your directors live in the block, confirm with OZEV before you rely on the grant.

Before applying, OZEV expects the landlord to have:

• completed any upgrade to the building’s electricity supply;
• arranged regular maintenance;
• decided how electricity and running costs will be paid;
• updated the building’s risk assessment to include the charge points, and be ready to act on it.

As a rough worked example, four sockets in a shared car park costing £1,200 each to supply and fit would cost £4,800. At 75% capped at £500 a socket, the grant would be £2,000, leaving £2,800 for the company. Your installer’s quote will set the real figures.

If a leaseholder installs one in their own space. They need written permission from the freeholder or management company as part of their application. Requests to the board are likely to rise before March 2027. The government is also consulting, until 16 December 2026, on making freeholders in England answer such requests within a set time (see our story linked below). That is a proposal, not law.

What to do now

• Decide at a board meeting whether the company wants a shared scheme, individual charge points in allocated spaces, or both.
• Check what the leases say about alterations, parking spaces and recovering the cost through the service charge before committing company money.
• Get quotes only from OZEV-authorised installers, and ask them about supply capacity first.
• Agree a simple written process and template for leaseholder requests, including fire safety, cable routes and who pays for electricity.
• Apply before any work starts, and well before 31 March 2027.

This is general information about the government’s published grant guidance, not financial or legal advice. Check eligibility with OZEV or your installer before you commit.

Related: EV charge points: freeholders could have to answer leaseholders’ requests within a set time and EV chargers in blocks of flats: new VAT and levy rules from 1 November.

How Freeholdpilot helps

Freeholdpilot’s directors’ portal records board decisions, keeps leases and the fire risk assessment in one document store, and gathers contractor quotes, so a board can work through a charge point request or a shared scheme and keep the paperwork OZEV asks for in one place.