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tux900

Kyrae wrote: »

If its any help... on the Barratts website they're still selling Palmerston houses and they're sold as 3 bedroom houses!

Which development? I just took a look at the Rosedale Wynd one where it seems all is not quite clear!

http://www.barratthomes.co.uk/Find-a-Home/New-Developments/H2517-Rosedale-Wynd/?mode=2

The styles section gives a 'Glenmore' heading.... yet then goes on to talk about the 'Palmerston'... and it being 2 bedroom!

However, if you take a look at the development plan there are Glenmore's shown (not Palmerston's) and they are described as '3 bedroom plus boxroom'.

Hence, it would appear that Barratt have indeed changed the style name, and downgraded the bedroom count from 3 to 2, but they've erroneously copied-and-pasted the old Palmerston description without amendments.

Mathew

upthewall_2

The dimensions of the room are approx 7'2" x 6'. I have checked on barratts website and they are still selling the palmerston as a 3 bedroom house, but when you look at the plans/layout bedroom 3 is described as a box room-but still advertised as a 3 bedroom house. http://www.barratthomes.co.uk/Find-a-Home/New-Developments/H2753-Crown-Gardens/BPAL18S1-Palmerston/

tux900

(I couldn't see the link as it seems to require registration)

If you'll forgive me for working in metric, that converts to 2.18m x 1.83m. The 'standard' UK single mattress size is 1.9m x 0.9m so, assuming your room is a fully-open rectangle (i.e. no fitted units, alcoves, etc) you could fit a bed in it lengthways with roughly half the room width available. A more accurate measurement (between the skirting boards) might allow widthways fitting and of course a 'small single' would fit in this way too but I'd not consider that particularly conclusive.

So it's small, very small in fact, but it'd still be a bedroom in my mind. You say you've used it as one for all these years so it obviously is to you also.

In the absence of any legal definition as to what constitutes a bedroom one would have to take into consideration what a 'reasonable' person (if there are any of them left! ) might think. At the end of the day the Property Misdescriptions Act is intended to protect the buyer against being mislead. Assuming you accompany your property description with room dimensions then I really don't see how you could fall foul if this.

Remember, as interesting as the Barratts issue is it was never tested in court so noone can necessarilly conclude whether or not they were in breach of the Act. Indeed, I suspect they side-shifted being in a position to have a case to answer as it could obviously have massive ramifications on them (and every other developer) if a precedence was set in case law that put them on the wrong side of the line. They are after all in the business of selling as little as they can for as much as they can get (like any other business for that matter).

Incidentally, I have absolutely no familiarty/understanding of the Scottish selling system or the Home Report hence my thoughts could be completely irrelevent if what the report says goes.

Mathew

upthewall_2

Hi Matthew,

Yes we have a full size single bed in the room along with a double chest of drawers. The bed lies length ways with the chest of drawers sitting snuggly at the side of the bed. The boiler cupboard is also in the room which we are able to use as a wardrobe and storage due to it's depth. We did have a junior bed in this room which fits width way. It is a small room and not much bigger than some peoples cupboards! I have looked out my previous survey carried out by the same person and company in May 2004 and the house is described as a 3 bed semi-detached.

Roberta

ILW

Is it still legal to build a house with a boiler in a bedroom? I thought that had been outlawed on new builds and that may be the reason. You may be able to go back to 3 bed by moving the boiler into the loft.

tux900

ILW wrote: »

Is it still legal to build a house with a boiler in a bedroom?

It's fine as long as it is a room-sealed flue design.

Mathew

bottlehalffull

Do they use ultra silent boilers for bedrooms?

tux900

Not usually - they're often spec'd no different than for any other room.

Operating noise levels vary between models and generally, but not necessarily, increase with boiler output size. The type (combi, system, etc) can make a significant difference as can the plumbing to/from the boiler.

There's certainly no shortage of 'quiet' boilers that would be all but inaudible if enclosed properly.

Mathew

upthewall_2

Sorry, it's actually the water tank thats in that room, the boiler is in the kitchen.