Landlords need to be aware of their responsibilities following the coming onto force of the Equality Act 2010.
The Act replaces the concept of disability-related discrimination with a new protection from discrimination arising from disability. This means that a person discriminates against a disabled person if they treat them unfavourably because of something arising from, or in consequence of, their disability, with no requirement for a comparator. The Act does, however, provide a defence where the landlord can show that it did not know, and could not reasonably have been expected to know, that the tenant had a disability.
The Act also contains a new right for disabled tenants of residential or mixed use premises, whereby they can request that the landlord make physical changes to the common areas of a building, such as hallways and stairs, in order to meet their needs, where such changes are reasonable.
For further information on your legal responsibilities as a landlord, contact us.