The government has finally agreed to bring into force long-awaited laws that will impose a duty on landlords to allow disabled tenants to make access improvements to the hallways, staircases and entrances of residential properties.
The measures were part of Labour’s Equality Act 2010, which became law just before the 2010 general election, but successive Tory-led governments have refused to bring them into force.
Now the government has quietly announced that it plans to “commence” these provisions, with the commitment hidden on page 19 of its response to a report by the Commons women and equalities committee on disability and the built environment, even though the committee had made no mention of the issue in its report.
Despite the announcement, the government said it would still need to carry out “further work on identifying and assessing any additional burdens on local authorities” before it could say when the new laws would be implemented.
The lengthy delay has led to criticism from organisations including the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the Discrimination Law Association and Disability Rights UK.
The government was criticised for the delay almost exactly two years ago, in the report of a House of Lords committee that examined the impact of the Equality Act on disabled people.
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