Buying an Accessible Home Abroad: Step-Free Access, Lifts and Adapted Property

Published on: August 19, 2026

Last verified: 19 August 2026. Condominium law, grant schemes, deduction rates and heritage rules change and vary by region within countries; confirm locally before you rely on any of it.

Quick answer: Accessibility is a chain from the parking space to the bathroom door, and one broken link makes the rest irrelevant. Across much of Europe the right to install accessibility works in a shared building is stronger than buyers expect, and in Spain qualifying works are obligatory without a prior vote of the owners' assembly. The money is the opposite: national grant schemes in France, the UK and Italy are aimed at owner-occupiers adapting a main residence and are means-tested, so a non-resident second-home owner should budget to self-fund. Italy's enhanced 75 percent barrier-removal deduction ended on 31 December 2025 and was not renewed.

Search the international property portals for accessible housing and you will find almost nothing. There is no filter for it on most sites, the word rarely appears in listing text, and the photographs are taken from angles that hide steps. Meanwhile the housing stock most attractive to foreign buyers, the old town apartment, the hillside village house, the converted farmhouse, is among the least accessible in the world.

That gap is worth writing about properly, because the mistake it produces is expensive and slow to reverse. This guide covers what accessibility actually means in a property purchase, what rights you have to change a building you only partly own, where grants exist and where they will not reach a foreign buyer, and what to measure when you view.

Our companion piece on ageing in place abroad deals with the longer-term picture. This one is about the building.

Accessibility is a chain, not a feature

An adapted bathroom in a flat you cannot reach is not accessibility. Walk the whole route and check every link:

1. Parking to street. Is there a dropped kerb? Is parking on the same side, and is it available, or only in August when the town is full?
2. Street to building. Cobbles, slopes, and the gradient of the street itself. Many hill towns are beautiful precisely because they are steep.
3. Building entrance. Almost always the failure point. A single 20 cm step at the front door, a half-flight up to the lobby, or a heavy door with a threshold and a spring closer.
4. Lobby to lift. In older buildings the lift frequently starts at the mezzanine or first floor, meaning a flight of stairs before you reach it.
5. The lift itself. Cabin size and, above all, door width.
6. Landing to front door. Another threshold, a narrow turn, a door that opens outward into a stairwell.
7. Inside. Corridor width, door widths, level changes between rooms, bathroom layout, kitchen worktop and appliance heights, balcony or terrace threshold.

Any one broken link makes the rest irrelevant.

The lift that does not solve the problem

The single most common disappointment in southern European stock is the building that has a lift which does not work for a wheelchair user.

Older cabins are often around 80 to 90 cm wide with doors materially narrower than that, and a folding or scissor-gate door needs a hand to operate. A self-propelled wheelchair typically needs a clear door opening of about 80 cm and a cabin depth sufficient to turn or reverse out. Many historic lifts fail on both counts, and enlarging a lift shaft in a load-bearing masonry building is a structural project rather than a refurbishment.

Take a tape measure to every viewing. Measure the clear opening with the door open, not the frame.

Your rights to change a shared building

This is the part foreign buyers least expect, because it turns on condominium law that varies sharply between countries. The general position across much of Europe is more favourable than buyers assume, though it is a right to install, not a right to have it paid for.

Spain

Spain has one of the clearest regimes. Under Article 10.1(b) of the Horizontal Property Law, works reasonably necessary for universal accessibility are obligatory and do not require a prior vote of the owners' assembly, where they are requested by an owner in whose home or premises a person with a disability, or a person over the age of 70, lives, works or performs voluntary service. Ramps, lifts and other mechanical or electronic devices are named explicitly.

The obligation is capped: the amount charged annually to the community, after deducting any public subsidies, must not exceed twelve ordinary monthly community charges. Crucially, the works do not stop being obligatory merely because the cost exceeds that figure. The requesting owner may fund the excess, and the works still proceed.

Where these conditions are not met, a separate route exists under Article 17.2, which sets a reduced majority for barrier-removal works and lift installation compared with ordinary improvements.

Italy

Italy combines a specific accessibility statute with reduced condominium majorities. Law 13/1989 provides for grants and, together with the Civil Code, allows barrier-removal works to be approved by a lighter majority than ordinary costly improvements. If the assembly refuses to contribute, an owner may generally proceed at their own expense, provided the works do not impair the other owners' use of the common parts.

On the financial side, 2026 marks a real change. The enhanced 75 percent barrier-removal deduction applied to expenditure up to 31 December 2025 and was not renewed by the 2026 budget law. From 1 January 2026, accessibility works fall under the ordinary building renovation deduction, at 50 percent for a main home and 36 percent for other properties, within a spending cap per unit and recovered over ten annual instalments. The reduced 4 percent VAT rate on qualifying accessibility aids and works remains available where the technical requirements are met.

Anyone who has read older guides quoting 75 percent should treat that figure as historic.

France

France operates a national adaptation grant, MaPrimeAdapt', launched in January 2024 and continuing in 2026, which funds up to 70 percent of qualifying adaptation works within a cap in the region of 22,000 euros excluding VAT. Eligibility runs on age and disability criteria and is means-tested against national income bands, with a required accompanying adviser.

There is a catch that matters enormously to the readers of this article. It is aimed at owner-occupiers adapting their main residence. A second home owned by a non-resident is outside its scope.

United Kingdom

The Disabled Facilities Grant funds adaptations up to a maximum of 30,000 pounds in England and 36,000 pounds in Wales, with Scotland operating a separate scheme of assistance. It is means-tested, requires an occupational therapist to confirm that the works are necessary and appropriate, and applies to the applicant's own home. Average awards are far below the maximum. Again, this is for a main residence.

The pattern to take away

Across these systems, two rules repeat:

• The right to install accessibility works in shared property is usually stronger than buyers expect, and often does not require unanimity.
• The money is usually tied to a main residence, a residency status, or a means test. A non-resident second home owner should generally budget on the assumption that no grant will be available and treat any that is as a bonus.

Verify both points locally before you buy, because the detail changes and regional programmes exist alongside national ones.

Protected buildings and the limits of what is possible

The characterful old-town apartment is frequently in a protected or listed building, or in a conservation area with an external appearance requirement. That does not make adaptation impossible, but it changes the process: external ramps, lift shafts, door widening on a facade and even handrail design may need heritage consent, and consent can be refused.

Before committing to a property in a protected setting, get a written view from a local architect or surveyor on whether the specific works you need are likely to be permitted. Ask about the building, not about the law in general. This is a very different question from whether the works are structurally possible.

What to measure at a viewing

Take a tape measure, a phone, and a notebook. Photograph every threshold with the tape in shot, so you can compare later.

Then get a professional assessment. An occupational therapist or an accessibility surveyor will identify things a buyer will not, and their report is also useful evidence if you later apply for consent or a grant.

Budgeting for adaptation

Costs vary too much by country, labour market and building type for a single figure to be honest, and our guide to renovation cost per square metre by country is the right place to start on local pricing. What is consistent is the ranking:

• Cheapest: grab rails, lever taps, threshold ramps, door handle changes, better lighting, removing internal doors.
• Moderate: widening internal doorways, converting a bath to a level-access shower, a stairlift on a straight staircase, an external ramp where space exists.
• Expensive: a curved stairlift, a through-floor lift, relocating a bathroom, structural changes to a load-bearing wall.
• Sometimes impossible: installing or enlarging a communal lift in a historic building, creating step-free access where there is no space for a compliant gradient.

Get quotes before exchange, not after. In many markets the specialist installers are few and lead times run to months.

Parking cards across borders

Recognition of disabled parking entitlement in another country is currently patchier than most people assume.

Within the EU, the existing model parking card rests on a non-binding Council recommendation from 1998. Member states have generally honoured each other's cards, but the underlying instrument is a recommendation rather than a rule, and local conditions of use, such as time limits and which bays qualify, remain national.

That is changing. Directive (EU) 2024/2841 establishes the European Disability Card and the European Parking Card, with mutual recognition on a binding basis. Member states must adopt implementing law by 5 June 2027 and apply the measures from 5 June 2028, and existing parking cards are to be replaced by 5 December 2029. A parallel directive extends the scheme to third-country nationals legally resident in a member state.

Two limits to keep in mind:

• The scheme is designed for short stays in another member state. It is not a substitute for registering under local rules once you actually live somewhere.
• For non-EU cardholders, including UK Blue Badge holders since the UK left the EU, recognition abroad is no longer automatic and varies by country. Check the destination's current position before travelling rather than assuming.

Location questions that outlast the building

• Healthcare. Distance to a hospital with an emergency department, and whether it is realistically reachable in bad weather or high season traffic.
• Terrain. A flat coastal town and a hilltop village twenty minutes apart are different countries in accessibility terms.
• Pavements. Many attractive rural and historic settings have none, or have them on one side only, interrupted by parked cars.
• Public transport. Low-floor buses and step-free stations are unevenly distributed, and rural services often have neither.
• Services that come to you. Grocery delivery, pharmacy delivery and home care availability vary enormously between a regional city and a village forty minutes away.

The resale argument nobody makes

Accessible stock is scarce almost everywhere, and the population that needs it is growing in every country a foreign buyer is likely to consider. A genuinely step-free, single-level property with a level-access bathroom and parking at the door serves an unusually broad buyer pool: people with mobility needs, older buyers planning ahead, families with young children, and anyone who simply does not want stairs.

That is a liquidity advantage, and it is one of the few property features where scarcity and demographic direction point the same way. If you are weighing a beautiful third-floor walk-up against a plainer ground-floor apartment with level access, the second one is likely to be easier to sell.

Frequently asked questions

Can neighbours block a lift installation?
In several European systems, not easily, and in Spain specific accessibility works are obligatory without a prior vote when the statutory conditions are met. But "cannot block" is not the same as "must pay", and physical feasibility and heritage consent are separate hurdles.

Will an adaptation grant be available to me as a foreign second-home owner?
Usually not. The major national schemes are directed at owner-occupiers adapting a main residence and are means-tested. Budget on the basis of self-funding.

Do new-build apartments solve the problem?
Often, but not always. Accessibility requirements for new construction vary by country and by whether the requirement applies to all units or a proportion of them. Check the specification rather than assuming.

Should I buy and then adapt, or only buy something already adapted?
Already-adapted properties are rare and often carry a premium. The practical middle path is to buy something adaptable, which means level or ramp-able access, a lift that actually fits, and a bathroom with enough floor area, then adapt the interior.

Is it worth involving a lawyer specifically on this?
Yes, at the point where a purchase depends on works being permitted. A conditional clause tied to obtaining the relevant consent is far cheaper than discovering afterwards that consent will not be given. See how to hire a real estate lawyer abroad.

Keep reading on JanusHermes

Accessible stock is scarce, rarely labelled, and worth searching for deliberately rather than hoping to find. JanusHermes lists property from local agencies in 11 languages, with the local agency's own contact details on every listing.

On the longer arc, see ageing in place abroad, over-55 communities and the cost of growing old abroad. On the building itself, read renovation cost per square metre, community fees and the property inspection gap. On healthcare access, see public healthcare for foreign residents by country.

This article is general information as at August 2026. Condominium law, grant schemes, deduction rates and heritage rules change and vary by region within countries. Nothing here is legal, financial or medical advice and it creates no advisory relationship. Obtain advice from a qualified local lawyer, architect or surveyor, and an occupational therapist, before relying on any of it for a purchase decision. JanusHermes accepts no liability for actions taken based on this content.

Primary sources: Spanish Horizontal Property Law, Articles 10.1(b) and 17.2; Italian Law 13/1989 on the removal of architectural barriers, the Italian Civil Code on condominium majorities, and the 2026 budget law treatment of the barrier-removal deduction; the French MaPrimeAdapt' scheme rules published by the national housing agency; UK Disabled Facilities Grant legislation for England and Wales and the Scottish scheme of assistance; Directive (EU) 2024/2841 establishing the European Disability Card and European Parking Card; and the 1998 Council recommendation on the EU model parking card.