MAR 17 1994








The Honorable Porter Goss
Member, U. S. House of Representatives
2000 Main Street
Suite 303
Ft. Myers, Florida 33901

Dear Congressman Goss:
                           (b)(6) 
     This is in response to your inquiry on behalf of your
constituent,       XX       , who asks about Federal laws
regarding accessibility in apartment buildings.

     Your constituent states that he lives in a "fairly new"
64-unit apartment building in which persons with disabilities
"have no access to [the] lobby because of the lack of doors
allowing opening without assistance by another person." He asks
for information on Federal laws that might apply to this
situation.

     The Federal Fair Housing Act contains standards for
accessibility to persons with disabilities in residential
facilities. For more information on the Fair Housing Act, your
constituent may contact the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development.

     The Department of Justice enforces title III of the
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which applies to certain
privately owned and operated facilities. Title III does not
apply to strictly residential dwellings, but it does apply to
common areas in residential buildings, such as rental offices,
that function as one of title III's twelve categories of places
of public accommodation and that are not intended for the
exclusive use of tenants and their guests. The twelve categories
of places of public accommodation are listed in section 36.104 of
the enclosed title III implementing regulation, at pages
35593-94. Parking, entrances, access routes, and restrooms
serving the areas covered by the ADA would also be covered.







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     Therefore, the lobby of your constituent's building is
covered by title III only if it serves as the access route to a
rental office, or other common area that functions as a place of
public accommodation and is open to persons other than the
tenants and their guests. In new construction and alterations
covered by title III, the ADA Accessibility Standards (the
"Standards") prohibit interior hinged, sliding, or folding doors
that require more than 5 pounds of force to open, but the
Standards do not require doors to have automatic opening
mechanisms. This provision appears in section 4.13.11 of the
Standards, on page 35463 of the title III regulation.  The
opening force requirement does not apply to exterior hinged
doors, because requirements for exterior doors have been reserved
for further study.

     In existing places of public accommodation the ADA requires
that architectural barriers to access, such as interior doors
that exceed ADA door opening force requirements, be removed if
the removal is readily achievable. See title III regulation and
preamble,   36.304, at pages 35597 and 35568-70. Readily
achievable means capable of being done without much difficulty or
expense. See title III regulation and preamble,   36.104, at
pages 35594 and 35553-54.

     I hope this information is useful to your constituent
in understanding the requirements of the ADA.

                           Sincerely,




                         James P. Turner
                Acting Assistant Attorney General
                      Civil Rights Division

Enclosures










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