Changes to your home

Everyday activities like climbing stairs, moving around your home, bathing or cleaning can all become much more difficult if you're recovering from an illness, an operation or becoming more frail.

Mental ill-health and dementia can also stop you from staying independent.

We can help customers to maintain independence in their homes through adapting properties and providing additional support and equipment to suit individuals needs.

We work to provide a wide range of adaptations and equipment including:

• stairlifts
• ramps
• wet rooms
• hoists
• lifts
• handrails
• widening doors
• coping with loss of sight or hearing
• getting around your home
• converting rooms

Our Occupational Therapists can help to identify the right adaptations and equipment that will help you stay independent in your home. This will be done through an assessment.

To do this, please contact the "Let's Talk" team at South Tyneside Council on 0191 424 6000 and the team will be happy to arrange an assessment.

Further online information, including grants which may be available, can be found by visiting South Tyneside Council: Equipment and changes to your home environment.

We can also ask our Council partners to lend you equipment to that will help you with daily tasks and to maintain independence in your home.

It is not always possible to adapt a property, or it may be that you would like to move to a more suitable property to meet your needs.

If this is the case, you may wish to consider moving to a more suitable or pre-adapted property.

If you need to move home because of a disability or a long term condition, you can request an assessment from the Health and Housing team for an assessment of your needs after you have made an application to move home through Tyne and Wear Homes.

This applies to difficulties faced by yourself, or anyone else who lives permanently in the property with you.

The team have highly qualified Occupational Therapists who can assess your level of need based on your current circumstances, and the impact that your current home is having on your health.

When you apply to move through Tyne and Wear Homes, you should let us know about your medical conditions so that we can make a referral to our Health and Housing team for an assessment of your needs.

The information that you give us on your application form is used to decide which band you are in, and if you can be awarded a Priority Banding to move. Find out more about the banding system.

Find out more about how to apply for a home and about how the health and housing support team can help.

Adaptations can be considered for removal from South Tyneside Council properties upon request of the tenant.

Permission for removal will depend on a number of circumstances and may not be allowed.

You can ask for permission by contacting us on 0300 123 66 33 and requesting the removal of an adaptation. Our Health and Housing team will contact you to discuss.

When we will not look to remove adaptations

In such circumstances, we will not look to remove adaptations:

• Any property with a Through Floor Lift will not be granted permission to remove
• Any property with ramped access will not be granted permission to remove, unless the following conditions are met:
  • The ramp is in a state of disrepair, is situated within a family dwelling and it can be evidenced that no person within the household requires the adaptation;
  • Or, the presence of ramped access is obstructing the lettability of a family property with no other adaptations.
• Any property with a wet room or walk in shower will not be granted permission to remove unless the following conditions are met:
  • The wet room or walk in shower is situated within a family dwelling with no other adaptations, it can be evidenced that no person within the household requires the adaptation and it is deemed by South Tyneside Council that the wet room or walk in shower is in a state of disrepair. If damage has been caused by the tenant or visitors to the property, any repair will be rechargeable to the tenant.

This list is not conclusive and is not limited to the above examples. However, each request will be considered individually on merit.

What happens if you have removed an adaptation without asking permission

If it is found that a customer has removed an adaptation from a South Tyneside Council property without getting permission from South Tyneside Council, any costs to re-instate will be rechargeable to the tenant.

Permission can be only be requested by a tenant through submitting an 'Application for Alterations' form to us.

No alterations to a property should take place without confirmation of permission in writing.