The verdict in three sentences
A social housing provider with 18,000 homes should budget EUR 3,000 to 6,000 excl. VAT for an accessibility audit on a 20-page sample, then EUR 8,000 to 25,000 in fixes, with the tenant portal inside the scope. The risk is not only legal (in France the RGAA regime allows penalties of up to EUR 50,000, and Irish and EU rules follow the same WCAG logic): with 25% of tenants over 60, an inaccessible repair request form generates calls and office visits. The full programme, accessibility statement and multi-year plan included, takes 2 to 4 months.
What the obligation actually requires
Public housing bodies are subject to digital accessibility duties. The French RGAA turns WCAG criteria into 106 test criteria, and the Irish public sector regulations rely on the same WCAG 2.1 AA baseline. Three documents must be published and kept up to date.
| Obligation | Expected content | Risk if missing |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility statement | Compliance rate, inaccessible content, contact | Penalty and complaint to the regulator |
| Multi-year plan | 3-year action plan | Breach of the legal duty |
| Annual action plan | Fixes planned for the year | No demonstrable trajectory |
| Footer notice | "Accessibility: not, partially or fully compliant" | Users misinformed |
| Alternative contact | Dedicated form or address | Users left without recourse |
The maximum penalty under the French regime is EUR 50,000, renewable. For a public landlord, the reputational stake with local authorities matters at least as much.
The budget in two stages: audit, then fixes
| Item | 2026 range (EUR excl. VAT) | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Audit on 20 pages | 3,000 to 6,000 | Home, housing search, repair request, rent payment, contact |
| Screen reader and keyboard testing | Included in audit | NVDA, VoiceOver, 200% zoom |
| Public site fixes (templates, contrast, headings) | 3,000 to 9,000 | Depends on number of templates |
| Tenant portal fixes | 4,000 to 12,000 | Forms, rent receipt tables, error messages |
| PDF documents (rent notices, guides) | 1,000 to 4,000 | Depends on number of published documents |
| Statement and multi-year plan | Included in fixes | Drafting and publication |
| Total fixes | 8,000 to 25,000 |
The tenant portal is usually the heaviest item. That is where you find complex forms (repair request, certificate, complaint) and rent receipt tables, two frequent sources of non-compliance.
A 2 to 4 month plan
| Step | Duration | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Selecting the 20-page sample | 1 week | Pages tenants use most |
| Initial audit | 2 to 3 weeks | Report with compliance rate and list of failures |
| Prioritisation | 1 week | Blocking fixes first (forms, navigation) |
| Fixes | 4 to 10 weeks | Public site, tenant portal, PDFs |
| Re-audit and statement | 2 weeks | New rate, statement published |
If the tenant portal is a third-party vendor product, allow time to negotiate: fixes depend on its roadmap, and the multi-year plan must say so.
Mini case study
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Isabelle, head of communications at a public housing office with 18,000 homes, receives about 900 calls a month about tasks tenants cannot complete online. She estimates a third come from accessibility issues (contrast, zoom, forms unreadable by screen readers), so 300 calls. At 6 minutes per call and EUR 32 per loaded hour, that costs about EUR 960 a month, EUR 11,500 a year. An audit at EUR 4,500 and fixes at EUR 15,000, EUR 19,500 in total, are covered in under two years by fewer calls alone, and the office is protected from the EUR 50,000 penalty.
FAQ
Why a 20-page sample and not the whole site?
The method relies on a representative sample: template pages, key journeys and most-visited pages. With 20 well-chosen pages, the audit covers over 90% of a housing provider's templates.
Is the tenant portal really in scope?
Yes, it is part of the public digital service offered to users. Its forms and receipt tables are often the source of 40 to 60% of reported failures.
Can we be fully compliant in year one?
Rarely. A realistic target is moving from about 40% to over 75% of criteria met after fixes, then aiming for full compliance through the multi-year plan.
Do we have to redo every PDF?
No: prioritise documents that support tenant tasks (rent notices, tenant guides). The rest can be replaced by HTML pages, often cheaper than remediating 50 PDFs.
How soon can we publish the statement?
The statement can go live as soon as the initial audit ends, 3 to 4 weeks after kickoff, then be updated after the re-audit.
Let's scope your project. Send us the address of your website and tenant portal, and we will price the 20-page audit, the fixes and a 2 to 4 month compliance schedule. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
