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Frequently asked questions - accommodation
- We are currently living in London but would like to move out to an area that would better suit our health. Please can you advise us on how to go about finding another home?
- I am a home owner and am looking to buy a property that is more suited to my needs. I am likely to be using a wheelchair in the not too distant future. Local estate agents don't seem to have anything suitable. Have you got any ideas of where I can look?
We are currently living in London but would like to move out to an area that would better suit our health. Please can you advise us on how to go about finding another home?
The DLF's primary role is to advise on equipment to assist with independent living rather than accommodation, so we do not have the expertise to give comprehensive advice, but we can give you some pointers.
- If you are in housing association or council housing,
and there is a particular reason why you need to move
to a different area, you can join a scheme called HOMES
that is a home swap scheme. For more information contact:
Housing Organisations Mobility and Exchange Services
242 Vauxhall Bridge Road
London SW1V 1AU
Tel: (020) 7963 0200
Fax: (020) 7963 0249 - There is a home swap website for council tenants where you can post your details and look for suitable exchanges, see www.council-exchange.org.uk
- The National Disabled Persons Housing Service is an organisation that aims to promote accessible housing options for disabled people. It advises local housing services whose addresses can be obtained via the NDPHS website: www.hodis.org.uk
- The CAB publishes advice guides on housing including one on finding accommodation and another on accommodation schemes, see www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/family_parent/housing.htm
- Some housing associations specialise in providing accommodation for disabled people, for example, John Grooms. These organisations are members of the National Housing Federation and are listed on its website: www.housingnet.org.uk/links/area.asp?specid=2&spec=Special+Needs
- If you are an older person looking at your housing options, the Elderly Accommodation Council has a great quantity of information on its website www.housingcare.org, and also runs a helpline. Tel: 020 7820 1343
I am a home owner and am looking to buy a property that is more suited to my needs. I am likely to be using a wheelchair in the not too distant future. Local estate agents don't seem to have anything suitable. Have you got any ideas of where I can look?
There is a shortage of wheelchair accessible housing, and what is available comes up for sale infrequently as once a disabled person has found a home that meets his/her needs, (s)he tends to stay put!
There is an organisation called the National Disabled Persons Housing Service that works to improve housing options. They do not give direct advice to the public but there are a few local groups around the country, see www.hodis.org.uk.
You could investigate whether there are any new builds in the areas you may like to move into. In larger developments, a percentage of homes should be built to meet the needs of disabled people. 'Mobility housing' should meet the needs of ambulant disabled people, and 'wheelchair housing' should be accessible to full-time wheelchair users.
There is a drive towards building homes that are designed to meet the
changing needs of the occupiers and can therefore be more easily adapted
as their owners grow older or become affected by illness. Such a home
would, for example, include level access, minimum width doorways, a downstairs
WC, a straight flight of stairs for easier installation of a stair lift,
etc. These homes are called 'Lifetime Homes'. For more information, contact:
Joseph Rowntree Foundation
The Homestead
40 Water End
York YO3 6LP
Tel: (01904) 629 241
Website: www.jrf.org.uk.
There is a website that aims to advertise property for people with additional needs. This site has not been running long so may not have many properties, but look at Little House Company.
You could look at other websites, such as the Disability Equipment Register, which occasionally has properties for sale, or The Disability Information Service Surrey which has an advertisement board on its website.
www.youreable.com also has a housing page that is useful to look at.
Your estate agents may not fully understand which features make a property potentially suitable for you, so rather than asking for information on wheelchair accessible property, try providing local agents with a list of desirable features.
For example, you could ask them to look for a property that:
- Has a level area in front of it, if you are a car driver, and an unimpeded route through an entrance door - this does not necessarily need to be the front door.
- Has level access or an entrance that can be adapted by installing a ramp. One or two front steps can usually be overcome provided there is space in front of the entrance or to the side where a ramp can be installed.
- Has an entrance door with a minimum width of 800mm.
- Has a reasonable size hall. A small hallway will restrict turning 90 degrees to go through internal doorways.
- Has internal door widths of 750mm minimum, especially needed if manoeuvring space is tight and does not allow for a head-on approach. A tight door opening width can be increased by replacing hinges with special swing-clear hinges.
- Has an open plan interior or large rooms. A space of 1500 x 1500mm is the recommended minimum space required to turn a wheelchair 180 degrees.
- Has a bedroom large enough to allow access around your bed.
- Has a good sized WC, although a separate WC can be knocked through to an adjacent bathroom to give more space. A shower tends to be easier than a bath to manage independently, 900 x 900mm shower area minimum.
- Does not have a galley kitchen, if you are an wheelchair user, because you can only go one way in your wheelchair.
- Has access to the garden by wide opening doors - patio doors for example, and a paved patio area.
Wheelchair users tend to need lower worktop heights, and shallower depth units, but you may be able to find a kitchen that you can 'work with' i.e. have pull out carousels, freestanding or pull out table etc. until you can improve/replace the design.
Remember to consider the relationship of one room to another to make moving from room to room easier and to simplify installation if you use an overhead hoist.
You will also need to advise your surveyor of any specialist equipment that you will be using that might be fixed to the structure of the house, e.g. ceiling track hoist, stair lift, etc. to ensure walls and ceilings are strong enough.
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