What you can change in a rental without asking

Most of what's written about a house working on a bad day assumes you own it. You can't put wood behind the walls of an apartment you don't own, and you're not widening a doorway. But a surprising amount of what makes a place easier to use is furniture, fittings and where things sit, none of which needs a landlord.

Here's what you can do this week without asking, what's worth asking for, and the one thing not to buy.

Without asking

The door handles. A lever handle swaps onto most interior doors with a screwdriver in ten minutes. Keep the old knob in a drawer and put it back when you leave. A lever works with an elbow or a full hand; a knob needs a grip.

The shower head. A handheld shower head screws onto the existing pipe by hand. It means you can wash sitting down and rinse without turning under the spray. Keep the original for move-out day.

Somewhere to sit in the shower. A shower chair or a bench that straddles the tub edge. Nothing is fixed to anything.

The toilet. A raised seat with arms sits on the bowl and lifts off. A frame that stands around the toilet on its own feet does the same job with nothing attached.

The bed. Risers under the legs raise it a few inches, and a bed you don't have to climb out of from low down is a different bed. A rail that slides between the mattress and the base gives you something to hold.

The chair. One chair with arms at a height you can get out of, wherever you sit most. Not the couch.

The light. Plug-in lights that come on when you move, at floor level between the bed and the bathroom. Lamps on the route you take at night, on a switch you can reach from where you'll be. A brighter bulb over the counter where you cook. Bulbs you can turn on from your phone if switches are in the wrong places.

The floor. Rugs you can catch a foot or a walker wheel on come up. A mat with a rubber back goes down in the shower and stays there.

Where things live. Everything you use every day moves to between your waist and your shoulder. Plates on the counter or the lowest shelf. The pan you use on the stove, not in the cupboard. Coats on hooks at hand height, not on a rail above your head. This costs nothing and changes more than anything you can buy.

The route. Furniture arranged so there's a clear path from the door to the chair to the bathroom to the bed, wide enough for a walker, with nothing to step around. A room can hold the same furniture and ask half as much of you.

Worth asking for

Grab bars. They need to be screwed into the wood behind the wall, which means holes, which means asking. Most landlords say yes to a bar in the bathroom, because the holes are small and patched at move-out and the alternative is worse for them too. Ask in writing, offer to have it installed by someone who knows how, and offer to patch the wall when you leave.

Raising or lowering a shelf or a closet rail. Small holes, big difference.

In the US, the Fair Housing Act generally requires a landlord to allow reasonable modifications for a disability at the tenant's own expense, sometimes with the condition that you restore the unit when you leave. What counts, how to ask, and what to do if the answer is no are questions for a tenant rights organization or a lawyer, not for me. But it means "no" isn't always the last word.

Don't buy the suction grab bar

The bars with suction cups that stick to tile without screws. They're sold as a fix for exactly this situation, and they're the one thing on this list I'd leave in the store. They hold a towel. They're not built to hold a person, and they come off the wall without warning, usually when you're leaning on one. If you need something to hold in the shower, that's a real bar into wood, and it's worth the conversation with the landlord.

What renting doesn't change

Every post on this site about where a switch goes, how wide a door is, and what closes behind the drywall still applies to you. You just won't be the one deciding for this apartment. But the list you make of what your home charges you, in steps, reaches, transfers, minutes and hands, comes with you to the next place, and it's the list you look for when you're choosing one. Knowing what to look for doesn't need a lease.

The free guide, The Decisions Your Renovation Makes Without You, is written for people renovating, but the first half is the list, and the list is yours wherever you live. Short, large print. Sign up and the download is yours.