Access and facilities for disabled people

Make significant changes to premises you rent

If you rent your premises, you usually need to get consent from your landlord before you make any significant alterations to allow disabled people to access and use your premises.

You must request consent for any alterations to accommodate disabled people even if the terms of your lease state that no alterations to the property are allowed. When you have requested consent, you should ignore any terms of your lease or orders from your landlord that prevent you making alterations or changes to allow disabled people to access and use your premises.

You should make a written application for consent from your landlord to make alterations to your premises to allow disabled people to access and use your premises.

You should also include all plans and specifications with your applications so as to avoid any possible delays.

Once your landlord has received your application he or she has 42 days to respond.

Your landlord should not unreasonably withhold consent. But they may set certain conditions that you should carry out before you make any alterations. These include:

• gaining planning permission from your local authority
• carrying out alterations in accordance with plans and specification
• allowing the landlord to inspect the works
• reimbursing, within reason, any costs the landlord may have incurred in giving consent

If you landlord does not respond to your request within 42 days, you can assume that he or she has withheld consent. You should then refer the matter to the county court (the sheriff court in Scotland).

Similarly if your landlord refuses to give you consent, or sets other conditions, again, you should refer the matter to the county court (sheriff court in Scotland). The court will decide whether the landlord is reasonable in refusing consent.

Read about the Northern Ireland disablement advisory service on the Department for Employment and Learning Northern Ireland website.

Subjects covered in this guide

• Introduction
• When a person is considered disabled
• Change practices to give disabled people equal access
• Provide extra aids or services so disabled people can access your goods or services
• Overcome physical barriers to access
• Improve access to and use of your facilities for disabled employees
• What to consider before making an adjustment for disabled employees
• Make significant changes to your premises
• Make significant changes to premises you rent
• Here's how ensuring accessibility for staff and customers has helped our business