Ceiling height and "habitable rooms"

boom

Hello

First post - please be gentle

We're in the process of buying a house and have just had the survey done.

The house is a 3 storey Victorian mid terrate which has two rooms in the roof (original, not converted).

The surveyor has pointed out that these two rooms, at their highest point, are only just over 6 feet high. He says that, because of this, they are not habitable rooms and can't really be classed as bedrooms. Which in turn means that our "four bedroom house" is actually a "two bedroom house (with an attic)", which in turn affects the valuation.

Now we haven't got the written report yet - the above information is based on brief verbal feedback. We will be talking to the surveyor about it in more detail once we've got the report...

But perhaps those older/wiser can advise as to the implications of this? Is there a legal minimum on ceiling height? Is it normal for this sort of thing to occur in attic bedrooms?

Thanks in advance for any help/advice - I want to get as much info on this as possible before I speak to the surveyor again, and before we talk to the estate agent about it.

RiskAdverse100

It may be that your lenders require a room to be a minimum height before they will classify it as a habitable room. The amount that a lender is prepared to lend will of course depend on the number of habitable rooms.

The building regulations do not specify the height of rooms although I am aware that local authorities do often have minimum height requirements where you rent out a property and it has to comply with the requirements of a Houses in Multiple Occupation scheme. I think the minimum height is around 7 feet.

RiskAdverse100

BobProperty

I had a search around too and came to a similar conclusion. It's 2m over stairs and 2.14 (=7') or 2.3 depending on details and LA policy. Ideally it looks like you want 2.3m, anything less than 2m could be considered too small.

lush_walrus

The surveyor isn't correct at all in describing the height as being the factor as to whether something is considered to be habitable. Areas for attic rooms are measured at a height of 1.5m, upwards to determine the size, there are minimum room sizes for new builds, but if this has already been converted as it seems the minimum room sizes will not factor. Rooms are generally now expected to have a floor to ceiling height of 2.3m. For an attic room to be considered to be habitable it needs to have perminance in the method of getting to it, ie it needs to have a staircase, not a ladder, and it needs to have natural ventilation, ie an openable window. If it has both of those it will be considered habitable.

boom

Thanks all for the replies - I will await the written report to see the exact reasoning and if there's any major reduction in value. Watch this space...