Mobility scooters

Beyond Housing understands some customers require the use of a mobility scooter to access the outdoor community in which they live.

Over the years we have seen an increase in the availability and use of mobility scooters which has increased the risks to premises which were not originally designed to accommodate such vehicles.

Mobility scooters can pose a significant fire risk. Storage and charging of mobility scooters in communal areas presents a risk of a fire which can spread to other parts of the building.

Additionally, although they might not be directly involved in a fire, mobility scooters may prevent people from evacuating the building safely or restrict access for firefighters entering a building.

We have established a mobility scooter procedure to effectively manage the ownership of mobility scooters in our buildings in order to minimise fire safety risks.

This page provides guidance on the mobility scooter procedure so you are aware of how this may affect you. Find out more below.

The mobility scooter procedure relates to the use of class 2 and 3 mobility scooters by a person living in a flat with communal areas.

If you are considering buying a scooter you must:

Seek advice from your community advisor who will talk to you about storage and charging arrangements
Apply in writing to obtain permission to use and store it in one of our properties.

Every effort will be made to accommodate all requests to have a mobility scooter and permission will not be withheld unreasonably. However, as a landlord, we have a duty of care to all people who live in and enter our premises. Therefore, before granting permission, we must carry out an assessment to ensure a safe, suitable area can be identified for storing and charging your scooter.

When an assessment takes place we will need to ensure:

The scooter will be stored and charged in your property
The storage and charging presents no risk or fire hazard to you or anyone in the building and will cause no damage to the property
You have arrangements in place to insure (including third party liability) your scooter if you intend to use it inside one of our properties.

If you purchase a scooter and store or charge the scooter in the communal area without first gaining permission, you are in breach of your tenancy agreement and you will be requested to remove the scooter from the communal area until you apply for permission and an assessment has taken place.

If you already own a mobility scooter then you still need to apply for permission to store and charge the scooter retrospectively. We will undertake an assessment in the same way for a new scooter purchase requests, however, if the assessment concludes the scooter can only be stored in the communal area we will not request you remove the scooter but we will work with you to determine the best course of action so the scooter does not present a risk to other customers.

Permission will be subject to an owner/user signing and agreeing to the following terms and conditions:

You must exercise care and attention at all times when using the scooter in our grounds and premises
You must comply with any restrictions on the use of the scooter in our premises
You must take appropriate accidental damage, theft and third party insurance cover and provide evidence of this at the time of permission being granted, and thereafter as requested
You must maintain the scooter in accordance with the manufacturer’s requirements, and only use sealed batteries
You must charge the scooter in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions
You accept that use and storage of the scooter in our premises or grounds is entirely at your own risk
You understand we reserve the right to withdraw the permission for an area to be used for storage should it be required in the future for alternative use
Permission may be withdrawn should you fail to adhere to these requirements or should any subsequent risk assessment carried out at a later date indicate the use and/ or storage present an unacceptable risk, and an alternative cannot be identified by us
Permission may be withdrawn should any inspection undertaken by a competent authority e.g. fire and rescue inspections request the removal of such equipment from that location and an alternative location cannot be found by us
If you cause damage to our buildings, you will be charged for any repair costs.