Housing Services provide funding each year for aids and adaptations to Council owned properties to enable occupiers to remain in their home, for as long as it’s safe and reasonable to do so. This funding is directly from the Housing Revenue Account as Council properties are exempt from Disabled facilities grant funding.
All works are generated from reports received from an Occupation Health Therapist requested through Social Services, and are vetted by a council panel of officers before release.
It's important to note that not all requests will be approved, due to a number of factors but the most common are from wet room requests. If your request is to install a wet room on a first floor property, or a property that is too big for your needs, our officers will discuss the options of moving to alternative accommodation already suited to your needs or where applicable, downsizing.
Social housing is in such short supply we must make sure the correct people are in the correct homes for their needs and this sometimes means having difficult conversations to make sure we aren't conducting works where other options are available.
Once your property is adapted, it may be classed as specifically adapted and therefore not eligible for the right to buy and limited on any future mutual exchanges.
For a property to be classed as specifically adapted and therefore removed from the right to buy process and only lettable (either by Choice based letting or Mutual exchange), to someone who has medical need for the property, one or more of the below must apply:
- Downstairs wet room or level access shower
- Provision of a dining room which can be used as bedroom or separate bedroom downstairs (property must have at least one reception or family room not to be used as a bedroom)
- Any property which has had an extension built for a person with medical need either recently or historically
- Specialist equipment installed to aid movement around the house such as scissor lifts, through floor lifts, hoist systems
- Widened doorways
- Automatic door openers and closers
- Disabled level kitchen worktops
Where none of the above are present, but three or more of the below are, this will also be deemed specifically adapted:
- Level access into the property either by a driveway or path
- Stair lift present
- Wet room or level access shower
- Heightened toilet for disabled use
- Downstairs toilet and an upstairs bathroom
- Second reception room that can be used as a ground floor bedroom
- Ramps anywhere on the property that aid access in or out of the dwelling
To discuss an adaption in more detail, speak to a housing officer on 01277 312500 or email estates.management@brentwood.gov.uk.
View our Aids and adaptations policy (PDF).