Frequently Asked Questions

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My customer lives in a house owned by a family member. Who makes the application?

Where the relevant person does not have an owner's interest in the property to be adapted, and the owner is a relative of the relevant person, the normal way of dealing with these cases is for an owner's application to be made by a family member with an owner's interest in the property.

• Owners do not need to reside in the property, but they may not make applications if living outside the UK.
• Their owner's certificate would give the necessary permission for the works.
• The means-test would be applied to the disabled person.
• A charge could be placed on the property if the grant were to be for more than £5,000.

An alternative approach is to invite a tenant's application from the disabled person. "Tenant" in DFG does seem to include "licensee", although this term is undefined in the legislation, which is one reason why most authorities have understandably been wary of this approach. In such a case the owner of the property would complete a certificate as a landlord. This would confirm their ownership and agreement to the work being done to their property.

• The means-test would be applied to the disabled person.
• Any contribution would be calculated using the lower, tenant's, multipliers.
• A charge could not be placed on the property.