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As mortgage brokers, we’re here to make a difference. Whether you are a first home buyer, refinancing or an astute property investor, we endeavour to provide you with attentive personal service and expert advice.

Tiffen & Co combines expertise, experience and resources to form the most dynamic and professional mortgage firm in Canberra. We are the most awarded brokerage in the ACT, with both our firm and our mortgage brokers winning multiple industry awards.

Even more, we do not charge you for our services. Tiffen & Co is paid by the lender when we successfully settle your loan. Our team of brokers are available to meet with you at our office in Kingston or at a venue convenient to you.

So you’re in the process of designing your dream home. You’ve got the open-plan layout you wanted, the right number of bedrooms and bathrooms but have you considered how liveable your space actually is? It’s important to consider whether you want your home to be easily accessible for your parents if you plan for them to move in with you when they get older.

Andrew Kerec from Renaissance Homes found himself asking this question when he was building a new home several months after his father had a devastating accident, with the resultant damage to his spinal cord rendering him a C5 quadriplegic. Andrew and his wife were able to make modifications to accommodate his parents before his build was finalised, ‘This provided Mum and Dad with an appropriate, accessible, safe and loving place to reside in while they found a block and built their own new home’.

Minimum accessibility requirements (essentially the LHA Silver level) are now included in the 2022 National Construction Code, with the ACT Government adopting these requirements in September 2022.

Liveable Housing Australia stated that the seven core design elements in the silver level are:

1 A safe continuous and step free path of travel from the street entrance and / or parking area to a dwelling entrance that is level.

2 Internal doors and corridors that facilitate comfortable and unimpeded movement between spaces.

3 A toilet on the ground (or entry) level that provides easy access.

4 A bathroom that contains a hobless shower recess.

5 Reinforced walls around the toilet, shower and bath to support the safe installation of grabrails at a later date.

6 Stairways are designed to reduce the likelihood of injury and also enable future adaptation.

7 At least one, level (step-free) entrance into the dwelling.

It’s important to see creating a liveable home as an opportunity to make your home more accessible and more practically laid out rather than being a concession. ‘Homes built to minimum accessibility standards within our towns and cities will create more socially inclusive residential communities – people with disabilities or mobility restrictions will no longer be isolated within their own homes,’ Andrew said.

He advised that, ‘Ultimately, liveable homes will enhance the quality of life for all occupants at all stages of life because they are designed to be easy to enter, easy to navigate in and around, capable of easy and cost-effective adaptation and responsive to the changing needs of occupants.’

But liveable housing isn’t limited to the older population. Andrew explained, ‘They benefit families with young children (by removing trip hazards for toddlers and making it easier to manoeuvre prams/ strollers), people who sustain a temporary injury that limits their mobility, ageing baby boomers that require mobility aids or home modifications and people with disability and their families, enabling them a better choice of housing and the opportunity to visit the homes of friends and relatives.’

ULTIMATELY LIVEABLE HOMES WILL ENHANCE THE QUALITY OF LIFE FOR ALL OCCUPANTS AT ALL STAGES OF LIFE, BECAUSE THEY ARE DESIGNED TO BE EASY TO ENTER, EASY TO NAVIGATE IN AND AROUND, CAPABLE OF EASY AND COSTEFFECTIVE ADAPTATION AND RESPONSIVE TO THE CHANGING NEEDS OF OCCUPANTS.