BP 344, the Accessibility Law, and the sizes it sets
Batas Pambansa Blg. 344 of 1983 withholds the permit for certain buildings until they carry the features a person with a disability needs to get in and around, such as ramps, railings and parking. Its implementing rules, revised in 2024, add wider doors and accessible toilets and set the figures for each. This page sets them out with the section each one comes from, and says plainly where a family house stands.
What BP 344 covers, and a house
Section 1 of the Act says no license or permit “for the construction, repair or renovation of public and private buildings for public use, educational institutions, airports, sports and recreation centers and complexes, shopping centers or establishments, public parking places, workplaces, public utilities” shall be issued unless the owner installs features that “reasonably enhance the mobility of disabled persons such as sidewalks, ramps, railings and the like”. Section 4 makes a violation punishable by imprisonment, a fine or both, and holds the president, manager or administrator, or the person in charge of the work, responsible where the owner is a corporation, partnership, cooperative or association.
A private family house is not on that list. On a house, then, the figures below are a standard to design to rather than a condition of the permit. They are still the official published measure in the Philippines of what a wheelchair user, an older parent or someone on crutches needs, and a house that follows them can be lived in for longer. A home office open to clients, a clinic, a shop or rooms let to guests on the ground floor may move the building into the Act's list, so ask the Building Official before you rely on the house reading.
BP 344 dimensions, section by section
Every figure is from the Minimum Requirements for Accessibility in the 2024 Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations, as the National Council on Disability Affairs publishes them. Each row names the part of the rules it comes from.
Ramps
| Point | Figure | Source and condition |
|---|---|---|
| Clear width | 1200 mm at least | IRR Minimum Requirements, Accessible Ramps |
| Gradient | not steeper than 1:20 | Same section. Steeper gradients "may be allowed in special cases depending on the length to be covered" |
| At 1:15 | 10.50 m long, 700 mm rise at most | Table A.1.1, with a landing every 10 m; at 1:20 a landing every 15 m |
| Level area at the top and the bottom | 1800 mm at least | Same section; a ramp longer than 10.50 m also needs intermediate landings of at least 1800 mm |
| Handrails | both sides, 700 and 900 mm | Same section and Handrails and Grab Bars: measured from the ramp surface, with a 300 mm horizontal extension at each end; required where the grade changes by more than 170 mm |
| Raised edge | 100 mm at least | Same section, on both sides |
Doors and corridors
| Point | Figure | Source and condition |
|---|---|---|
| Door clear width | 900 mm at least | Doors: measured from the face of the door open at 90 degrees to the jamb; 1800 mm for a double-leaf door |
| Door handles and pulls | 900 mm | Doors: handles, pulls, latches and locksets, centred 900 mm above the finished floor |
| Thresholds and sliding-door tracks | 12 mm at most | Thresholds: bevelled if higher than 6 mm |
| Corridor clear width | 1500 mm at least | Corridors: so a wheelchair user and a walking person can pass |
| Light switches | 900 to 1200 mm | Switches: on centre above the floor, 200 mm from the latch side of the door |
Toilets and baths
| Point | Figure | Source and condition |
|---|---|---|
| Accessible toilet compartment | 1800 × 1800 mm at least | Toilets and Baths: a lavatory inside the toilet goes outside this clear area, and a turning space of 1800 × 1800 mm is required outside the compartment |
| Water closet position | 450 mm to its centreline | Same section: from the finished face of the side wall |
| Toilet seat height | 450 mm | Same section |
| Grab bar | L-type on the side wall | Same section: its face 350 mm from the water closet centreline and 100 mm from the wall, with a flip-up bar on the other side, its face also 350 mm from the centreline; both bars 300 mm above the top of the seat |
| Lavatory | 800 mm high | Same section: with clear leg room not lower than 650 mm, its centreline 450 mm from the adjacent wall |
| Roll-in shower | 1800 × 1800 mm | Same section, with L-shaped grab bars, a curb no higher than 12 mm and bevelled, and a hand shower on a hose at least 1500 mm long |
| Toilet doors | open outwards | Same section: so a helper can get in if someone falls behind the door, with locks that open from outside |
Parking
| Point | Figure | Source and condition |
|---|---|---|
| Accessible parking slot | 4000 × 5000 mm at least | Parking: never on a ramped or sloping area, nearest the accessible entrance |
How long a ramp has to be
The gradient decides the length. At 1:20 every 1 mm of rise takes 20 mm of ramp; at 1:15 it takes 15 mm. The rules allow steeper than 1:20 only in special cases, and 1:15 only up to a 700 mm rise and a 10.50 m run, with a landing every 10 m. The lengths below are our arithmetic on Table A.1.1 and the landing rules. They count the sloping part only, so add the 1800 mm level areas at the top, the bottom and each intermediate landing.
| Rise | Length at 1:20 | Mid-ramp landings at 1:20 | Length at 1:15, special cases only |
|---|---|---|---|
| 150 mm | 3.00 m | none | 2.25 m |
| 300 mm | 6.00 m | none | 4.50 m |
| 450 mm | 9.00 m | none | 6.75 m |
| 600 mm | 12.00 m | 1 | 9.00 m |
| 700 mm | 14.00 m | 1 | 10.50 m, 1 mid-ramp landing |
| 900 mm | 18.00 m | 1 | not allowed |
A 450 mm rise, three stair risers of 150 mm, is 9.00 m of ramp at 1:20. On a narrow lot that length is the hard part, and it is why a level entry is easier to plan into a new house than to add to an existing one.
Where these figures meet your plans
- The entrance. A floor raised above the yard for drainage needs a ramp or a level approach somewhere; placing it at the design stage decides whether it fits the setbacks. Our custom house design service can plan one ground-floor entrance, door and toilet to these sizes from the start.
- Adapting an existing house. Widening a door to 900 mm, taking out a threshold or turning a bathroom into a roll-in shower changes walls and floors, and is drawn up under renovation and expansion planning.
- The stair and the rooms. In a house, stairs and room sizes are set by the National Building Code; BP 344's own stair rules apply to the buildings the Act covers. The stair dimensions checker and the room size checker test them against PD 1096, and the National Building Code guide sets out the sections a house meets.
What this page does not cover
- Everything outside a house. The rules also cover elevators, tactile blocks, signage, stairs in public buildings, seating in assembly halls, public transport and the number of accessible parking slots and toilets a building needs. None of that is summarised here.
- The fine. Section 4 sets a fine, and this page does not print amounts.
- Drawings. The rules carry figures for each feature; the NCDA page links the official copy.
Sources: Batas Pambansa Blg. 344, as published by the Lawphil Project; and the 2024 Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations of BP 344, Minimum Requirements for Accessibility, as published by the National Council on Disability Affairs.