Couple with 2 grown up children living in dormer bungalow. Disabled mother moves in, takes the son's bedroom. Family has to build another bedroom for son. Can an argument be put for a reduction in this situation?

Not sure if the Sandwell case affected this. There is a link between the disability and the use of the room at a stretch, although it is not the room so much as the dwelling that is linked (i.e. she had to move into their house rather than the room per se). The family has had to make alterations to their living arrangements to account for the loss of a room for the exclusive use of the disabled person so it seems worth a punt. Any views?

I work in the Estates Dept. of Charity which cares (and provides housing)for the blind, elderly and disabled and have come across this many times. It really depends on the Local Authority - they all seem to interpret the regulations in a slightly different manner - but I was told by a senior valuation officer,when querying a decision about the disablement discount, that what they needed to see were adaptations made specifically to enable the disabled person to live in the property. We have had councils accept little more than handrails in the bathroom and others who would accept no less than lifts in the bedroom and the "full monty" in the rest of the bungalow.

What we have found is that an OT's report tends to carry a lot of weight and we now include these with any request for the discount. It seems to work.

Belinda

Thanks for the reply. Confirmed what I thought - you can probably get two wildly different decisions on identical cases in neighbouring authorities. Nothing to be lost so will have a go. I'll update the forum on the result.