Accessible bathroom renovation on the Côte d'Azur

You do. The French accessibility standards cover new housing built for other people and public buildings. An owner adapting a bathroom in their own home has no minimum width or turning circle to meet. When a devis (written quote) says "PMR" (personne à mobilité réduite, meaning accessible for reduced mobility), it describes the work and certifies no standard. A firm selling a salle de bain PMR is telling you what it intends to build, and you judge whether that suits your body and your house.

So start with who the room is for. A couple in their sixties planning ahead need a different bathroom from someone who already walks with a frame, or who may use a wheelchair in five years. A salle de bain senior for the first couple can look like any other bathroom with a few sensible additions.

An occupational therapist (ergothérapeute) can visit, watch how you move through the room and write down what to change. Some retirement funds pay for that visit for older retirees living in France, so ask yours. Hand the same written list to every firm that quotes. The devis then compare like for like.

A grab rail is only as strong as the wall behind it. Ask how it will be fixed and what it's rated to hold. A rail screwed into tile over a thin partition can come away the day someone leans on it. Decide the positions by standing in the room with the fitter, because the right height depends on you. A towel rail isn't a grab rail, however solid it looks.

For the WC, sit on a showroom model first. A wall-hung pan lets the fitter choose the height, but it needs a proper frame in the wall. Ask what the wall is made of and what that adds to the price.

Measure the doorway and the floor space with a walking frame or wheelchair in mind. Ask the fitter to plan the room around the widest thing that has to get through. A door that opens inward can be blocked by someone who has fallen behind it, so ask about a sliding door or one that opens outward.

For the floor, ask for a sample and wet it. Test it with bare feet, because a tile that feels fine in a showroom can be slick with soap on it.

Only someone who lives here as their principal residence. A Riviera second home fails the test, whatever your age or health. If your main home is elsewhere, budget the full cost and read the rest of this section as background.

For a resident, the national housing agency Anah pays 50% of the works in the modestes band and 70% in the très modestes band. The works ceiling is 22,000 EUR HT (before tax), so the most you can receive is 11,000 or 15,400 EUR. The two higher bands get nothing, and our income-band guide shows where you sit. At 70 or over, no other condition applies. Between 60 and 69 you must show a loss of autonomy. At any age, a disability rate of at least 50%, or receiving PCH, also qualifies. Replacing a bath with a shower is listed as eligible work.

The order matters. An adviser visits first, defines the works and helps put the file together, and the grant covers their fee. Applications go through france-renov.gouv.fr, which asks for a FranceConnect+ login and can be slow to arrange from abroad. Don't sign the devis or start work before the written grant decision arrives. Professionals must do the work. A tenant needs the landlord's written agreement.

Read the devis against your brief. Every point you agreed with the fitter or the ergothérapeute should appear as a measurement or a named product, because the signed devis is the contract.

If a grant is involved, the adviser's works list comes first and the devis follows it. Keep the signed version and every photo of the room before and after the work with the house papers, in case of a dispute or a later sale.