1 bed with study/dressing room

homeless9

Hi People,

I am interested in a new build house that has a bathroom, main double bedroom, and a dressing room/study which is the size of a single bedroom, but is not classed as a bedroom.

I asked the estate agent why the house wasn't classed as a 2 bedroom home and they told me that the house could only be classed as a 1 bedroom as there is only 1 official parking space belonging to the house and needed to have 2 parking spaces to be called a 2 bed home.

Is this a thing? I assume so as I don't know why an estate agent would make this up. I am not sure why the number of car parking spaces belonging to a house dictates what is and isn't classed as a bedroom. Can anyone explain why this is the case?

Before viewing the house I assumed the reason for the room in question being classed as a study/dressing room was due to the window and maybe the size of it and how it may not be up to fire safety standards for a bedroom as a means of escape. Though if this is the case I'm not sure why the window that was installed could not have been a suitable size for a bedroom so that the house could be classed as a 2 bed. Anyhow I have been told it's to do with the parking so this waffling on about windows is just my speculation.

Also to add, there are doors into both the 'main bedroom' and the 'study/dressing room', but there is also a door which goes directly between the 2 rooms, you open it up and walk right into the other room. I wondered if this is also possibly an addition due to fire safety so that anyone in the 'study' can move to the bedroom to easily access a larger window to escape from.

To be honest I can't remember the size of the window as I didn't take notice of it when I went to view the property.

But here is a floor plan and an image of the room in question:





I am asking these questions out of curiosity as I'd like to know that if it is down to the parking situation then why is this a rule? why does the number of parking spaces affect what a room can be classed as.

Also I am wondering if I can remove that door that goes between each of these rooms. I do not need to use this 'study' as a bedroom as it will be just me living here so the door isn't a problem. It's just on my mind that when and if I come to sell the house in the future most prospective buyers I would have thought would prefer that the door wasn't there, but maybe there is a regulatory rule in place where this door has to remain?

pinkteapot

I wonder if there are new planning rules that say 2-bed houses need to have 2 parking spaces - to avoid the way so many new-build estates just end up with cars parked all along the street because houses don't have enough parking spaces...

I'm certain the builder would have called it a 2-bed if they could. They could have charged more money for it that way!

You could get a builder in to fill the space where the door was and plaster over it. You'd need to budget for that, then redecorating and possibly replacing the carpets. 

davidmcn

More residents  = more parking needed, so it may be related to that.

Also you get developer contributions required by planning which sometimes relate to the number of bedrooms e.g. bigger houses = more kids = more demand on school places = more money required from developers to go towards school extensions etc.

Do you have dimensions for the rooms? The "study" does look a bit poky to be a bedroom anyway.

PasturesNew

It will be found in the planning documents.  The local authority will have set the rules.  The rules change all the time, every council is different.  When I bought my last house the planning (2010) had said 2 beds had 1 parking space and 3 beds had 2 parking spaces.  Roll on 4 years to the adjacent identical new builds by the same developer and they had only 1 parking space for a 3 bed.

The developers will hope that people will buy them at a good price as people like you can see it's big enough as a 2nd bedroom... so will lap them up.  They care not of future parking problems, or restrictions etc as they've built/sold and gone. 

homeless9

davidmcn said:

Do you have dimensions for the rooms? The "study" does look a bit poky to be a bedroom anyway.

9.7 X 8.5 FEET = 82.45 sq foot.
I read 70 sq foot is the minimum requirement for a bedroom. So all good in the size department here.

homeless9

PasturesNew said:

It will be found in the planning documents.  The local authority will have set the rules.  The rules change all the time, every council is different.  When I bought my last house the planning (2010) had said 2 beds had 1 parking space and 3 beds had 2 parking spaces.  Roll on 4 years to the adjacent identical new builds by the same developer and they had only 1 parking space for a 3 bed.

So say I bought this property, when I come to sell it in the future I could list it as a 2 bedroom house?

There are older 2 bed homes down the road of which only have 1 off road parking space.

NewShadow

That sounds like an excellent question for your solicitor - they should be able to give assurance as to if there's any planning/building restrictions in place; You'd have to specifically ask them - they won't know it's a concern for you unless you do - but once you do, if you proceed, you won't be able to legitimately deny knowledge of any issues if/when you come to sell.  

From what you've said - worst case - you can use the space as a bedroom and you can find an EA who will market it as a bedroom... you're potentially risking a future buyer looking at the old listing/seeing that it was originally sold as a one bed and asking the same questions as you are right now. 

homeless9

NewShadow said:

That sounds like an excellent question for your solicitor - they should be able to give assurance as to if there's any planning/building restrictions in place; You'd have to specifically ask them - they won't know it's a concern for you unless you do - but once you do, if you proceed, you won't be able to legitimately deny knowledge of any issues if/when you come to sell.  

From what you've said - worst case - you can use the space as a bedroom and you can find an EA who will market it as a bedroom... you're potentially risking a future buyer looking at the old listing/seeing that it was originally sold as a one bed and asking the same questions as you are right now. 

I tried looking at planning documents and couldn't see anything in them about this 1 bed / parking etc situation. Maybe I'm not looking in the right place.

I'll speak to a solicitor about it if I proceed.

Even if I can't market it as a 2 bed in the future, people should be able to see it can be used as a 2 bed. I'd personally rather get rid of the door in between the 2 rooms to make it more identifiable as a 2nd bedroom, and not a walk in closet.

silvercar

Does the window actually open? If not could you change it to one that opens? 

homeless9

silvercar said:

Does the window actually open? If not could you change it to one that opens? 

I assume so, but I don't know. I didn't actually check the window out when I looked at the property. A month ago when I was trying to understand why this room isn't classed as a bedroom I thought it may be something to do with the window, maybe something to do with the way it opens or its size possibly doesn't meet fire regs.....

It all doesn't make much sense to me.

If because of parking: Why should the number of parking spaces affect the categorisation of a room. I am sure I could find plenty of properties which are officially classed as 2 bedroom homes with only 1 off road/designated parking space.

If because of window: Why the builder didn't put in one that meets fire safety regs - I don't know.

Here is a photo of it from the outside. Maybe it's too small? (Top left)

pinkteapot

I doubt it's the window. There needs to be an escape width of 45 cm but the window itself doesn't need to be 45 cm wide - when the window is open as wide as possible, measuring the diagonal from the window frame to the outer edge of the open window needs to be 45 cm:



We have a bedroom with two slim windows that meet the criteria. Based on your pic I'm pretty sure that window is wider than ours (although ours are legal, I wouldn't particular fancy squeezing out that way and I'm not huge!). This assumes the window in yours can open a long way. 

To be honest, I'd ask the builder/developer and see what they say about why it wasn't made a 2-bed house. They may just tell you honestly. Do take their answer with a pinch of salt and get your solicitor to look into it (they can query it in writing and get answers that form part of the contract), but an informal chat may just start to explain things.