When is a bedroom not a bedroom?

FTBinthedark

Currently in conveyancing on a three bed house. Third bedroom is off the kitchen, part of an extension from 2021. Building Regs completion certificate has been supplied by the sellers. 

Only problem is the original planning application did not list the room as a bedroom, but as a utility room. There were some other changes from the plans submitted (although the overall footprint of the extension was as provided in designs). For example, the utility room was to have two external doors - one to the front and one to the rear of the property. The bedroom is very small, and wouldn't meet national space standards if it was a new build - I'm not sure that PP would have been granted for a bedroom that small if the plans set out that it was, in fact, a bedroom.

I'm not really worried about the council taking enforcement action, so don't think indemnity insurance is relevant here (unless my mortgage lender insists I guess).

My bigger worry is whether we will be forced to sell it as a two bedroom with [office/utility/some other space], rather than as a three bedroom, and end up making a loss. FTB here, and while we're not seeing the house as an investment as such, we also don't want to set ourselves up to lose money when we need to move on. 

Think my questions are:

-When the final building regs inspection took place, what regs will it have been assessed against? Will the inspector have passed it as an inhabitable room or an uninhabitable room (this isn't indicated anywhere on the completion certificate).

-If you were a buyer, would you consider this to be a two bedroom or a three bedroom house when thinking through what to pay for it?

FTBinthedark

I should add that this emerged when our surveyor advised us to check out whether the window in the bedroom complied with building regs re fire escape for internal rooms, because its directly off the kitchen. I don't have the dimensions of the window but have asked for them.

Tabieth

If I were looking to buy I’d almost certainly consider it a two-bed. A bedroom off a kitchen really does not sound like a comfortable way to live! However there may be some circumstances (e.g., a person with limited mobility who can’t use the stairs) where your set up would be an advantage. 

dannim12345

I personally wouldn’t consider it a bedroom, directly off a kitchen is unusual but it’s more the small size (is a smaller than a box room you would get in a semi?) that would make me consider it as an office or utility only. 

singhini

I would view it as a two bed (with separate kitchen & utility rooms)

I'm assuming house prices are based on anumber of factors and not just based on bedrooms, perhaps on their overall size? (my point being is it reasonable for a 2 bed with utility extension to be worth similar to a standard 3 bed because the overall size is similar?) 

GrubbyGirl_2

I don't know the answers but in regard to the the worries you have about selling in the future then why not use that concern to negotiate your purchase?

FTBinthedark

Its 2.9m x 1.6m. So probably in or around what you'd get in a typical smaller box room.

TBH I'm not so much thinking in terms of the size or layout - we knew all of that when we put an offer in.

The new info is that it looks like the extension was not built in line with the plans submitted at planning permission stage, and its not clear if building regs certification was premised on it being a non-habitable room (a utility room). If I am having these qualms, I assume future buyers will have the same qualms. So someone who (like us) is fine with the size of the room and layout, might balk at paying three bedroom prices for a room that might not have been certificated as a bedroom.

Albermarle

I am not sure you need to 'certificate' a bedroom.
We use what was originally the dining room as a bedroom for a disabled family member. It has never crossed my mind to ask anybody about it.
However if we sold the house, it would not be included in the number of bedrooms.

MyRealNameToo

How was it marketed to you?

Ultimately if someone has marketed it today as a 3 bed or 2/3 bed there is no reason to think that you wouldnt be able to do the same in the future. If your mortgage provider's valuation has agreed the value then no reason your buyers won't either. 

It's certainly not going to get the same price as if it were an upstairs larger bedroom but then that will also be reducing the price you are paying for it. No different to downstairs bathrooms or other features that arent the norm. 

user1977

Is there anything about it (other than the size) which you think might make it not a habitable room e.g. lack of window/ventilation?

FTBinthedark

Window size is the only real potential issue as to why it might not be up to building regs on a habitable room. As I say, I think it is also probable that it would not have received PP as a bedroom given its size.