Housing rights for wheelchair users: disrepair, adaptations and access

Wheelchair users face a distinctive set of housing challenges. Where a home is not properly adapted, everyday life becomes harder or impossible. Where the home falls into disrepair, lifts that are broken, ramps in disrepair, accessible bathrooms that are not maintained, the impact on independence and health is serious. Below, we set out your landlord's duties and your rights as a wheelchair user in rented housing.

Your landlord's general repair duties

Under Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, your landlord must keep the structure and exterior of your home in repair and maintain the installations in your home for space heating, hot water, and sanitation. These duties apply regardless of whether you are a wheelchair user.

Where disrepair specifically affects a wheelchair user's ability to move around their home, use the bathroom, or get in and out of the building, the impact is significantly greater than it would be for a non-disabled person. Courts and tribunals take this into account when considering the seriousness of a breach and the level of compensation.

Lifts and communal areas

If you live in a block of flats and rely on a lift to access your home, a broken lift is not a minor inconvenience, it may trap you in or out of your home entirely. Your landlord is responsible for maintaining communal areas, including lifts, in a safe and usable condition.

A lift that regularly breaks down or that is left out of service for extended periods is a serious failure of the landlord's duty. If you have been trapped in or out of your home because of a lift failure, report it in writing immediately and demand an urgent response. Environmental health can also inspect and act on lifts in HMOs and residential blocks.

See our guide: /help-centre/broken-lift-in-my-block.

Ramps, handrails and accessible pathways

If your home has a ramp, handrail, or other access feature that was in place when you moved in or was installed by the landlord or under a Disabled Facilities Grant, these features must be kept in repair. A broken ramp, a handrail that has come away from the wall, or an overgrown pathway that has become inaccessible are all repairs the landlord is responsible for.

See our guide: /help-centre/disabled-adaptations-and-the-disabled-facilities-grant.

The Equality Act and reasonable adjustments

Under the Equality Act 2010, landlords must make reasonable adjustments for disabled tenants, including wheelchair users. This means:

• Not refusing repair requests that are particularly important to you because of your disability
• Giving priority to repairs that affect your ability to access and use your home
• Not treating you less favourably because of your wheelchair use

If your landlord has refused an adaptation or has been slow to carry out a repair that is specifically important to you as a wheelchair user, you may have a claim under the Equality Act in addition to or separate from a disrepair claim.

See our guide: /help-centre/equality-act-housing-disrepair-reasonable-adjustments.

Requesting adaptations: the Disabled Facilities Grant

If your home needs adapting, a wet room, a ramp, widened doorways, a stairlift, you can apply to your local council for a Disabled Facilities Grant. This is a means-tested grant of up to £30,000 (or more in some areas and for some circumstances) to fund adaptations that are necessary for your needs.

The grant is administered by the council, and an occupational therapist assessment is usually required. Your landlord must agree to the adaptation before the grant is approved, though they cannot unreasonably withhold that agreement.

An adaptation funded by a Disabled Facilities Grant becomes part of the property and should be maintained by the landlord going forward.

See our guide: /help-centre/disabled-adaptations-and-the-disabled-facilities-grant.

Accessible bathrooms and wet rooms

An inaccessible or broken bathroom is a serious problem for any tenant, but for a wheelchair user who cannot use a standard bath or shower without an adaptation, a broken or unusable bathroom facility can mean being unable to wash properly. If your accessible bathroom or wet room is in disrepair, broken shower seat, non-functioning level-access shower, damaged grab rails, this is an urgent repair.

Transfer to a more suitable property

If your current home cannot be adapted to meet your needs, you may be able to apply for a transfer to a more suitable property. For social tenants, a transfer application based on medical need, including wheelchair use, attracts priority in most allocation schemes.

See our guide: /help-centre/social-housing-transfer-request.

When should I contact Support for Tenants?

If your landlord has failed to maintain accessible features of your home, or if disrepair is affecting your ability to move around your home, get in or out, or use essential facilities, call us on 0800 030 4669.

No upfront cost. You only pay if you win, and the fee comes out of the compensation. If you don't win, you pay nothing.

Sources

• Section 11, Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 (legislation.gov.uk)
• Equality Act 2010 (legislation.gov.uk)
• Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 (Disabled Facilities Grants) (legislation.gov.uk)

Related articles

• Disability discrimination in housing
• Equality Act, housing disrepair and reasonable adjustments
• Disabled adaptations and the Disabled Facilities Grant
• Broken lift in my block
• Housing register medical priority evidence