Part (iii) of the disability discrimination act - is the property industry prepared?

The next, and most important stage for the property industry is Part III which imposes new statutory obligations on those who provide goods, facilities and services to the public ("service providers").

These provisions take effect from 1 October 2004.

The statutory obligation is where a physical feature to a building, or the approaches or accesses to it make it impossible or unreasonably difficult for a disabled person to make use of the service provided. The service provider is to take such steps as it is reasonable for it to take in all the circumstances to either:

* remove the feature
* alter the feature
* provide a reasonable means of avoiding the feature, or
* provide a reasonable alternative method of providing the services.

These four alternatives have equal priority. A service provider will not automatically have to carry out physical alterations to a building.

The date of 1 October 2004 seems a long way away at the moment but service providers need to start preparing now.

Summary of Survey Findings

The main findings of the survey were:

* the majority of those in the industry (75 percent) are very familiar with or have some knowledge of Part III

* only 21 percent of respondents have taken no steps or prepared for Part III

* 54 percent of respondents were intending to audit all of the properties which they owned or occupied

* over two thirds of respondents felt that less than 50 percent of their properties would need to be physically altered in order to comply with Part III

*where physical alterations were required the average estimated cost per property (excluding audit costs) was 2,000 GBP or more according to the majority (64 percent).Where other action was being taken such as an alternative method of providing the service 40 percent though that the cost or estimated cost would also be 2,000 GBP or more per property on average.
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