Housing rights for wheelchair users: disrepair, adaptations and access

Wheelchair users face their own set of housing problems. If a home is not set up properly, daily life gets harder or even impossible. Disrepair can make this worse. A broken lift, a broken ramp, or an accessible bathroom that is not looked after can hit your health and your independence hard. Below, we explain what your landlord must do. We also explain your rights as a wheelchair user in rented housing.

Your landlord's general repair duties

Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 sets out clear rules. Your landlord must keep the structure and outside of your home in repair. They must also keep working the parts of your home for heating, hot water, and sanitation. These rules apply to everyone, whether you use a wheelchair or not.

Sometimes disrepair stops a wheelchair user from moving around the home. It may stop you using the bathroom or getting in and out of the building. The impact on you is much bigger than it would be for someone who is not disabled. Courts and tribunals look at this. They use it to judge how serious the problem is and how much compensation to award.

Lifts and communal areas

You may live in a block of flats and need a lift to reach your home. If so, a broken lift is not a small problem. It can trap you in or out of your home. Your landlord must keep shared areas, including lifts, safe and usable.

A lift that keeps breaking down is a serious failure. So is one left out of use for a long time. These break your landlord's duty. Have you been trapped in or out of your home by a lift failure? Report it in writing straight away. Ask for an urgent response. Environmental health can also inspect lifts and act on them in HMOs and blocks of flats.

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

Ramps, handrails and accessible pathways

Your home may have a ramp, a handrail, or another access feature. It may have been there when you moved in. Or the landlord may have put it in, or it may have come from a Disabled Facilities Grant. Either way, these features must be kept in repair. A broken ramp, a handrail that has come away from the wall, or an overgrown path you can no longer use are all repairs your landlord must do.

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 they must:

• Not turn down repair requests that matter a lot to you because of your disability
• Put repairs first when they affect how you get into and use your home
• Not treat you worse because you use a wheelchair

Has your landlord refused an adaptation? Or been slow with a repair that matters to you as a wheelchair user? You may have a claim under the Equality Act. This can be on top of, or separate from, a disrepair claim.

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

Requesting adaptations: the Disabled Facilities Grant

Your home may need changes. This could be a wet room, a ramp, wider doorways, or 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. It can be more in some areas and in some cases. It pays for changes that you need.

The council runs the grant. An occupational therapist will usually need to assess you first. Your landlord must agree to the change before the grant is approved. But they cannot say no without a good reason.

A change paid for by a Disabled Facilities Grant becomes part of the property. After that, your landlord should keep it in good repair.

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

Accessible bathrooms and wet rooms

A broken or unusable bathroom is a serious problem for any tenant. It is worse for a wheelchair user who cannot use a standard bath or shower without a change to it. A broken bathroom can mean you cannot wash properly. Is your accessible bathroom or wet room in disrepair? A broken shower seat, a level-access shower that does not work, or damaged grab rails are all urgent repairs.

Transfer to a more suitable property

Your home may not be able to be changed to meet your needs. If so, you may be able to apply to move to a home that suits you better. For social tenants, a transfer based on medical need, including wheelchair use, gets priority in most allocation schemes.

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

When should I contact Support for Tenants?

Has your landlord failed to look after the accessible parts of your home? Is disrepair stopping you moving around, getting in or out, or using things you need? Call us on 0800 030 4669.

No upfront cost. You only pay if you win, and the fee comes out of the compensation, not your pocket. 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