Housing: Disability
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, (a) what assessment he has made of the extent of barriers faced by disabled leaseholders seeking reasonable adaptions of their homes and communal areas and (b) what steps is he taking to reduce these barriers.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook
The government recognises how important home adaptations are in enabling older and disabled people to live as independently as possible in a safe and suitable environment.
The Disabled Facilities Grants funds adaptations to improve access to homes, including in respect of communal areas, where applicants satisfy a needs assessment, eligibility criteria and a means test.
The Equality Act 2010 imposes a duty on landlords to allow and make reasonable adjustments to private homes on request from disabled leaseholders. The government keeps under review the commencement of the remaining parts of section 36 of the Equality Act 2010, which would impose a duty on those responsible for common parts of leasehold properties, such as landlords, to make reasonable adjustments to those parts if asked to do so by a disabled leaseholder.
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