If you rent in Enfield, or own a flat rather than a house, the first question about a home charger is not the charger. It is whose permission you need and where the car parks. Nearly half of the borough’s households are in that position: across the London Borough of Enfield’s 120,923 households, 29.3% rent privately and 17.0% rent from a social landlord, and 36.9% live in flats or converted houses (Census 2021, our sum of the two flat categories).
This guide takes each situation in turn: the private tenant, the social tenant, the leaseholder and the landlord. For driveways, fuses and the borough’s supply, see our main page on EV charger installation in Enfield.
Who decides, street by street
The borough average hides wide differences. In Bush Hill Park ward, 77.2% of households own their home; in Ponders End, 36.4% do (Census 2021). So in one part of Enfield most charger decisions are the occupier’s own, while in another they usually sit with a landlord or a freeholder first. Purpose-built flats are 30.4% of households across the borough, and converted or shared houses another 6.5%.
The grant rules follow tenure, which is why it is worth knowing which group you are in before asking for a quote. Owner-occupiers of houses get no grant; the scheme that covered them closed in April 2022. The live OZEV grants are aimed at the other groups, which in Enfield means the 29.3% of households renting privately, the 17.0% renting socially and the owners among the 36.9% in flats or converted houses.
Private tenants in a house
If you rent a house with a drive or garage, perhaps one of the semis that make up 36.0% of households in Bush Hill Park ward (Census 2021), you need your landlord’s agreement before anything is fixed to the wall or wired into the consumer unit. Put it in writing, and agree who owns the charger if you move out. With off-street parking in place, the OZEV grant for renters can cover 75% of the cost, up to £500 per socket.
If you rent a house and park on the street, Enfield offers a route. Its footway channel scheme, read on the council’s page on 19 October 2026, lets a house run a charging cable through a self-closing duct set flush into the pavement. The council’s first condition is that you live in a house, not a flat, and own it or have your landlord’s approval to proceed. The council assesses each address, says it aims to do so within six weeks, and lists its fees: a £124 application fee, a year-one licence and installation from £1,230 for a 2.5 m channel, less a £480 council subsidy, and £107 a year to renew. Its page also says around 60% of Enfield households rely on on-street parking.
Social tenants
For a council or housing association tenant, 17.0% of Enfield households at the 2021 Census, the landlord’s consent comes first, and your landlord may have its own process for alterations. Ask before you get quotes, because the answer may depend on the building, the parking and who would maintain the unit. The renter’s grant can apply to social tenants with private off-street or allocated parking. The footway channel is again only for houses.
Leaseholders and flat owner-occupiers
With 30.4% of Enfield households in purpose-built flats, this is a large group. Owning a flat does not usually mean owning the wall the charger would go on, the route the cable would take or the car park. The freeholder or managing agent normally has to agree the cable route, the fixing and who looks after the unit, and the lease is where you check that an allocated bay is genuinely yours to use. In a converted house, the charger can only be wired to your own flat’s supply and meter, so the survey reads that fuse rather than the building’s.
Where those pieces are in place, the OZEV grant for people who own and live in a flat can cover 75% of the cost, up to £500 per socket. Enfield’s footway channel is not open to flats; its page says so in terms. If there is no private or allocated parking, a home charger is not possible, and public charging is the route.
Landlords with several homes
Landlords have their own grant. GOV.UK’s notice on the changes from 1 April 2026, updated 7 July 2026, says the maximum rate rose from £350 to £500 per socket, that residents can apply for one socket, and that landlords can apply for up to 200 sockets across their sites. It lists the flats and renters grant, the residential landlord chargepoint grant and the on-street parking grant as funded until 31 March 2027. A landlord fitting chargers at several Enfield properties at once may find that route simpler than each tenant claiming in turn.
The claim and the paperwork
Every one of these grants has to be claimed through an OZEV-authorised installer, with evidence such as a tenancy agreement or lease and an eligible vehicle, so tell us your situation at the quote stage and we will confirm whether a grant applies before any figures are agreed. Our guide to who qualifies for the EV chargepoint grant sets out the national rules in more detail. A home charger carries 20% VAT, as it is not on HMRC’s energy-saving materials list. If you are also weighing up storage for a house you own, our page on battery storage in Enfield covers that separately.
What we need from you
Tell us four things when you get in touch: whether you rent or own, whether it is a house or a flat, where the car parks, and who the landlord or freeholder is. If you are one of the 6.5% of Enfield households in a converted or shared house, tell us which meter is yours too. The charger we fit is the EnSmart SmartBee-M, which comes tethered or socketed, and our home EV charger installation page explains the choice. Those four answers usually settle whether a quote is worth preparing at all.
Sources: ONS Census 2021 via Nomis, TS044 accommodation type and TS054 tenure, London Borough of Enfield (E09000010) and 2022 wards; London Borough of Enfield, Footway channel for electric vehicle charging on the roadside (https://www.enfield.gov.uk/services/roads-and-transport/footway-channel-for-electric-vehicle-charging-on-the-roadside, read 19 October 2026); GOV.UK, Changes to electric vehicle chargepoint grant schemes from 1 April 2026 (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/changes-to-electric-vehicle-chargepoint-grant-schemes-from-1-april-2026, updated 7 July 2026, read 19 October 2026); HMRC, VAT Notice 708/6.