When Out of Order = Out of Options

The cost of living is high, service costs and rents are going up but often there seems to be little added value to people living in rented or managed properties.

I've written about issues with disrepair for disabled tenants before but one key issue which appears to be increasingly common is lack of maintenance for elevators. This can often amount to more than an inconvenience and can amount to an actionable breach of the Equality Act 2010 (EqA) giving rise to County Court Orders compelling repairs and compensation payments.

Pregnant and post-birth Mums, Elderly people and disabled people all have protection under s6 of the EqA.????????

The EqA imposes a legal requirement on service providers to consider the needs of customers and tenants with protected characteristics to adapt their services to take account of their needs.

In essence, the EqA ?means that landlords or service providers:

Must take steps to remove barriers to the services they offer or manage.

Must not treat disabled people less favourably because of their disability or long-term health condition.

Must not harass disabled people.

The construction and features of multi-level buildings giving stepped access amount to physical features within the meaning of section 20(1) of the EqA.

These physical features place people with mobility difficulties at a substantial disadvantage compared to non disabled people in using the accessing the services in that they cannot enter, exit or use them safely and independently.?

So, ramps or elevators are a means of complying with that duty.

If the person or organisation to whom you pay your property management fees or rent fails to take reasonable steps to avoid the disadvantage such as ensuring that there is an effective means of access and egress then they will be in breach of their obligations under sections 20(4) and 21 of the EqA, by discriminating against people with protected characteristics within the meaning of section 21 and subjecting them to a detriment.

A working wheelchair accessible lift avoids the substantial disadvantage that persons with mobility difficulties would otherwise be placed at in accessing facilities.

So, by failing to ensure that there is a working lift, or an effective service level agreement with any lift maintenance company a building operator is likely to amount to a failure to take reasonable steps to provide such 'auxiliary aids' in breach of its obligations under the EqA.

In other words, there's no point in having an elevator as a reasonable adjustment if it doesn't work; then it's not a reasonable adjustment. Just like having a ramp that's too steep or not wide enough or no-one is trained to use.

It would not be an automatic lawful excuse for building managers to blame issues on outsourced agencies (subject to scrutiny of terms and conditions between them) because the correct defendant for the purpose of enforcement would be the organisation that receives payment for the property service.

Remedies available are expensive to the service provider/landlord and accessible to the Claimant.

If a Court accepts that a service provider has discriminated against a disabled service user, it can order the service provider to make changes as to how they deliver their service. This can include by way of an urgent injunction requiring a business to make changes immediately.

Compensation is also payable for injury to feelings, currently as follows:

Lower band ￡1,200 – ￡11,700 which is appropriate for less serious cases such as where the act of discrimination is an isolated or one-off occurrence;

Middle band ￡11,700 – ￡35,200 for serious cases which do not merit an award in the highest band; and

Higher band ￡35,200 – ￡58,700 for the most serious cases such as where there has been a lengthy campaign of discriminatory harassment but this can be exceeded in exceptional circumstances.

In addition the losing party will be expected to pay the winner’s legal costs, making breaches more expensive than compliance in most cases.

So if you're struggling with constant access fails, you have more tools available to you to fix the problem than you might think - whether you're a building manager or a service user. We're here to help.