My elderly mother who is very frail recently had a new front door fitted to her rented property.  The door that was fitted was installed with an overhead door closer, which is proving a nightmare for my mother, because she is so unsteady and frail she cannot open the door without great difficulty, due to the tension in the overhead mechanism.

I am contacting the door fitters next week to see if there is anything that can be done, but I will probably be fobbed off, so are there door closers available especially designed for the elderly and disabled?

Yes the flat is one of a 4 apartment building with a communal corridor.  The previous door was fitted with the "perko" type door closer, so I cannot understand why an overhead closer was fitted.

I will mention this to the door fitter when I contact them tomorrow, another problem with the new door is that it was fitted with a door bar on the floor which is probably 25-30mm high, previously there was no bar.

Because my mother is elderly, infirm, practically blind this simple job is turning into a nightmare for her.  I believe that the other elderly tenant are also complaining of the same issues.

Are there alternative disability devices that can be used instead?

Thanks for the informative reply, most helpful.

The high threshold bar does appear to be breaking the Part M Reg.  I have checked the specification of the overhead door shutter and it does comply with the ADM standard but this is for a door width of 950mm minimum.  The door fitted width is 775mm.  I have checked crudely with a scale meter of the force required to open the door and it is 7lbs throughout the 90 degree of the door opening.  Which I believe is slightly higher that the regulations, may seem trivial but for a 94 year old it is a problem.

I have reported the problem to the Housing Association but there appears to be little interest in the complaint.  So if there is a breach of the regulations to whom do I report it to?

I contacted the Building and Planning Dept of the local council and they are not interested. I was informed:
"The replacement of an existing door would not be considered “building work” under the above legislation unless a “material alteration” would occur."

I guess now that the next port of call would be the fire service?

I have also now had confirmation that the door shutter fitted does not comply with the BS8300 Regulation due to the narrow door width.