Wheelchair enabled housing and rent to buy

We need wheelchair enabled home. I'm waiting for an OT eval here in US to send to a housing association to be placed on their waiting list. (they don't care if I am UK citizen or not, nor about finances). In the meantime I'm looking for other such associations to get on their list.

I would love to hear about any rent-to-buy homes that are usually hard to find on the internet.

Our home needs to be all ground level (I haven't figured how fast we will qualify for a lift put into 2 or 3 storey house) and if the bathroom fixtures are arranged properly it doesn't necessarily need to be a huge bathroom for me to function in. A washer and dryer is almost a must as my husband won't be able to manage laundry to and from the laundrette. Needs close to buses and train (which is usually no problem in UK!)

I would love some greenery.

To start out we would take anywhere in England (as distances to us Yanks aren't a big deal. I don't call 70 miles a day trip and the drive from York to London was a snap) but I love from north Nottingham and north, like in Derbyshire, or Sheffield area, Leeds area, York area. Includes, Barnsley, Rotherham, Harrogate,

It is so time consuming to Google street search to find nice neighbourhoods so any description from you folks would be great.

I really need this info. Thanks!

Need low crime, obviously not on steep hill (; and no flood zone

The terms you'll need to look for are 'bungalow' and 'garden flat'. Both will be ground floor/one level.

Beyond that I can't help you much but hopefully other can!

The terms you'll need to look for are 'bungalow' and 'garden flat'. Both will be ground floor/one level.

Beyond that I can't help you much but hopefully other can!

Thanks for getting the ball rolling so others will jump in. I knew about bungalows but wasn't sure of what a garden flat is. (I've only studied domestic architecture in UK for years! Stress and depression really make me stupid and I don't like it one bit!)

Don't expect a ton of replies on a Sunday. UKY can be very quiet on the weekends!

Bungalows may have a second floor, but unless they have been altered, there should be a master suite on the ground floor along with the kitchen and living space. If there is a second floor, it's usually just extra bedrooms.

Garden flats will obviously be smaller. We had a small, 2BR in Exmouth with detached garage access. That one would NOT have worked for a wheel chair (halls too small, bathroom too small), but that doesn't mean there might not be ones that would work for you.

I would say focus on larger cities.  Just because it is the UK does not mean there is good access to public transport.

My village is ok, right next to Cambridge, but we went from having a bus right outside my door every ten minutes to none with budgets cuts.  There is a bus that is walking distance for me (10 minutes or so), but it would be difficult for someone in a wheelchair since there is a bridge with a huge ramp.

Better than the next village along, which used to have a bus every 30 minutes and now there is none at all.

My in-laws have a bus once a week.  The closest trains to either of us is at least a 30 minute car or taxi ride.

Even if it is ground floor there are sometimes steps to the bathroom so look out for that.

Don't expect a ton of replies on a Sunday. UKY can be very quiet on the weekends!

Bungalows may have a second floor, but unless they have been altered, there should be a master suite on the ground floor along with the kitchen and living space. If there is a second floor, it's usually just extra bedrooms.

Garden flats will obviously be smaller. We had a small, 2BR in Exmouth with detached garage access. That one would NOT have worked for a wheel chair (halls too small, bathroom too small), but that doesn't mean there might not be ones that would work for you.

Oh shoot, I need people to help? Will they find my posts tomorrow?

Anyway, I have one advantage with disability-I am small and so is my chair but I still need a 5 foot turning radius in most rooms.

Hi living with hope

As your scenario is specialised, you'll need to be put in touch with any specialists who know of suitable housing for those who are disabled and require specific elements for their daily lives. I don't have experience of this I'm afraid as I'm a private landlord with a 'normal' ground floor flat. However, i've previously employed a disabled person and from memory, he was renting a specially equipped ground floor flat from the local council.

As a private landlord, I'm most certainly not going to be spending the ludicrous amounts it costs to have a lift put in if I owned say a house, so your first point of call that I can suggest is to contact the local council of where you'll be living to see if they have anything.

Good luck, DtM!

I would suggest getting in touch with local disability groups in the area you want to move to because they will have a better idea of life in the area you are thinking of moving to.

For instance, my area has a mix of old and new buses.  The old buses have ramps that the driver must get out and I've seen one that was broken so the person couldn't get on.

The new buses all have lowering devices, but if there are two buggies on board the drivers will usually not allow someone in a wheelchair to board for safety reasons.  Perhaps not a problem if you aren't in a rush, but still frustrating.  Also, if you aren't at the start of a route then you might be waiting ages for a bus with space.

Same issues in London.  For instance not all Tube stations are accessible, or trains for that matter.

Disability laws here seem less joined up than the ADA.

Yeah, definitely second the above to check local groups for where you want to move-

Dial UK may be a great place to start, as would be a local Citizens Advice Bureau

Good luck!

I would also suggest bigger cities the public transport network in Sheffield is very good and most of our buses are low floor that you can wheel on wheel off.

I think your best bet would be to try and go with the housing association some of them specialise in people with disabilities and they might have shorter waiting times than councils.

In Sheffield our council advertise first come first served properties and often these are disabled properties or age related properties these start at over forty if that would apply to you.

You could always rent a house and apply to the adaptions unit of the local council but I know there is likely to be waiting lists to get the work done though I do have to say when we had our house adapted they did the work quite quickly but it depends what you need doing in our case it was fitting some rails and bringing a bath board.

I hope this helps love pads, have pm'd you  x

Yeah, definitely second the above to check local groups for where you want to move-

Dial UK may be a great place to start, as would be a local Citizens Advice Bureau

Good luck!

Thanks very much friends.

I would also suggest bigger cities the public transport network in Sheffield is very good and most of our buses are low floor that you can wheel on wheel off.

I think your best bet would be to try and go with the housing association some of them specialise in people with disabilities and they might have shorter waiting times than councils.

In Sheffield our council advertise first come first served properties and often these are disabled properties or age related properties these start at over forty if that would apply to you.

You could always rent a house and apply to the adaptions unit of the local council but I know there is likely to be waiting lists to get the work done though I do have to say when we had our house adapted they did the work quite quickly but it depends what you need doing in our case it was fitting some rails and bringing a bath board.

I hope this helps love pads, have pm'd you  x

Thanks dear friend. I am taking notes from everyone. pads see my pm.