Parkinson's Disease... bathroom alterations?

cabbage

Hope you get it sorted. If you end up paying for anything for your mum don't forget that she will probably get it VAT free. Its a case of dowloading a form from HMRC (search Zero VAT on the site) and submitting it before you pay. As always there are rules and regs and not everything is covered but if its for your mum's sole use then its probably covered.

Also check out whether or not she will get a council tax reduction as part of the house will be solely used for a disabled person.

daska

Mojisola wrote: »

I was referring to skcollobcat10's point that if you own your own home you will have problems getting alterations done.

If you own your home and are on the relevant means-tested benefits, you can get adaptions done. The fact you are a house owner does not eliminate you from the process. I think it's quite reasonable that you would have to pay back the grant money spent on the alterations if you sell up within a set time because the work will have added value to your property.

You can see why adaptions can't be done in rented accomodation because you could be given notice to leave at any time.

I completely understand the reasoning behind not doing adaptations to rented property but it made the statement "It's irrelevant whether you own your own home." totally inaccurate. Given the shortage of 'council housing' it means that it can be very difficult indeed to find suitable accommodation if you are unable to raise a mortgage.

Mojisola

skcollobcat10 wrote: »

If she owns her own home and is not on benefits it is a lot harder to get grants for adaptations to bathrooms.

Mojisola wrote: »

If she is on the right benefits, she will be entitled to the grant. It's irrelevant whether you own your own home.

daska wrote: »

I completely understand the reasoning behind not doing adaptations to rented property but it made the statement "It's irrelevant whether you own your own home." totally inaccurate. Given the shortage of 'council housing' it means that it can be very difficult indeed to find suitable accommodation if you are unable to raise a mortgage.

It's only inaccurate if you take it out of the context it was made in. I quoted skcollobcat10's post - if you want to ignore the reference, of course it will look inaccurate.

deeplyblue

Mojisola wrote: »

I think it's quite reasonable that you would have to pay back the grant money spent on the alterations if you sell up within a set time because the work will have added value to your property.

Mostly adaptations to a home to make it more disabled-friendly diminish the value of your home.

People see your bathroom complete with all the rails, and the raised loo seat and they are reminded that we all have our bodies give up on us in the end. The optimistic ones add pulling out the bathroom and completely redoing it to the list of "things we will have to do as soon as we move in, if not sooner."

Sometimes your needs will seem to make the house smaller. The stairlift makes the stairs look narrower. A bathroom large enough for a hoist may take up space which removes one small room from number of bedrooms. And all that's before you take into account all the scuffing round the door where the wheelchair knocked it when trying to turn into a space that's too small.

Adapt a family house for disability and you knock 10s of thousands off the price since the look of adaptations put off those who want to fall in love with a property and adds to the cost for those who buy to improve.

No, adapt your house to work with your disability and your pay twice - once for the work and again in the loss of value to the house.

deeplyblue

You might want to look at the website of the Parkinson's Disease charity. They have information about grants you can apply for and can even help directly in cases where people have no financial resources and need one-off help.

http://www.parkinsons.org.uk/advice/benefits_and_grants.aspx

Mojisola

deeplyblue wrote: »

Mostly adaptations to a home to make it more disabled-friendly diminish the value of your home.

Adapt a family house for disability and you knock 10s of thousands off the price since the look of adaptations put off those who want to fall in love with a property and adds to the cost for those who buy to improve.

No, adapt your house to work with your disability and your pay twice - once for the work and again in the loss of value to the house.

I've no experience of hoists, etc, but the work done turning my parents' tiny separate bathroom and toilet into a lovely wet room is definitely an improvement.

A stairlift is easily removed and so are all the grab rails round the house as a new owner redecorates, which most do. I'm sure some buyers can't see past the cosmetic appearance of a house but those kind of people would probably be put off by some the decor we've got in our house!

We were really grateful that a grant was available for the bathroom work and, if Mum and Dad had moved within the set period, would have been quite happy to pay it back.