Accessible shop entrances: steps, ramps, OKU parking and clinics

Steps at a ground-floor shop do turn customers away: elderly shoppers, parents with prams, delivery trolleys and wheelchair users all find another shop. For most trades that is a sales problem, not a licensing problem. For a clinic it is both a patient problem and something health inspectors look at. The fix is usually a ramp inside the shop or on the approach, agreed in writing with the landlord and, where it touches the five-foot way or road, approved by the council.

Yes, and more than owners expect. Many shoplot rows sit one or two steps above the road, and some have a further step from the five-foot way into the shop. Each step filters out part of your catchment. Trades that suffer most are clinics, pharmacies, convenience stores and any shop serving older neighbourhoods. A café with young customers may not notice.

Usually, yes. Common solutions, from easiest to hardest:

The five-foot way in front of a shoplot is often treated as a public walkway, so anything fixed there needs the council's approval. Keep your own ramp inside your unit wherever you can. Write the ramp into the tenancy, with who pays and whether it must be removed at the end. See reinstatement clauses.

Not usually by themselves for an existing shop. By-law 34A of the Uniform Building By-Laws 1984 requires buildings it covers to provide access for disabled persons, and compliance with MS 1184 and MS 1183 is deemed to satisfy it. Shops are covered, but shophouses that already existed when the by-law came into force were exempted. A new building plan, a change of use or major renovation may bring the requirement back, so ask the council (DBKL, MBPJ, MBSJ) or your architect before you renovate. For the licences a shop needs in general, see permits to open a shop.

General information, not legal advice.

Bays on a public road or council car park belong to the council, so you cannot paint one yourself. You can write to the council and ask for an OKU bay near your entrance; clinics have the strongest case. Councils set their own ratios. For example, The Star reported in July 2019 that MBPJ guidelines require 2% of overall parking bays to be for people with disabilities. Whole-building owners with private parking should ask their architect about bays under MS 1184.

Walk it as your oldest customer would. Use this checklist at the viewing, or score it on our site scorecard:

• Nearest parking bay to the door: how many metres, any kerb to climb?
• Steps from road to five-foot way, and from five-foot way to shop
• Door width and whether it opens outward
• Floor level inside: one level, or steps to the back?
• Toilet: can it be reached and used by a wheelchair?
• Covered route from parking in the rain
• Evening lighting on the five-foot way

Our article on parking and shop value explains why the walk from the car matters so much.

In practice, yes. Patients include the elderly, the injured and wheelchair users, and a clinic is registered with the Ministry of Health under Act 586, which looks at the premises as part of registration. Treat a step-free entrance and a reachable toilet as must-haves. The clinic fit-out guide covers power, water and X-ray rooms.

We know of no rule that stops a clinic opening under other tenants, but what is upstairs can matter. A shared staircase opening into your clinic, a noisy or late-night tenant, or water leaks from above all raise questions at inspection. Your X-ray shielding may also need to protect the floor above. Ask the landlord who is upstairs and whether the stairs have their own entrance, and confirm with your State Health Department before you sign.