Those criteria for a bedroom are the same ones appraisers use. But local conventions and market conditions can recognize value as long as someone is willing to pay for it, I suppose.

I know that the historic homes in Santa Fe don’t go by the norms you’ve mentioned. There may not be a closet, and sometimes no actual door. but those homes are so quirky as a result of being added onto over the years, that all the rooms are pretty much whatever you want them to be. A bed in the dining room? Why not?

I don't think anyone would ever contemplate the need to specify that bedrooms need...walls. In our case, we would use the entire floor as a master suite, so it would not really matter too much, but for resale I think the BR count is arguable.

Here you must have a closet and window to the exterior through which one could exit in the case of an emergency. I’ve never heard anything about an interior door or minimum size.

Must have two means of egress. Usually a door and a operable window.

I've seen new-construction apartments and condos lately where a room labeled bedroom, usually a secondary bedroom, does not have a window. And, shiver, a barn door. So it makes me think they don't really intend it to be a bedroom but rather a den, and just label it so they can appeal to those looking for two bedrooms.

Where we live, the number of bedrooms a property can have is dependent on lot size and septic system design. Some people who own second homes and rent them as vacation properties will illegally put extra bedrooms in finished basements. This has to be remedied when the property changes hands.

We have a 3-bedroom septic, but our 3rd bedroom is technically a sleeping loft since it has no closet and no solid wall to the downstairs (two sets of large louvered shutters can close over the opening in the half wall.) We are contemplating adding a first floor master suite and will have to argue that the sleeping loft is not, in fact, a bedroom.

We plan to deal with this by applying for approval as a 2-bedroom vacation rental (the loft and bedroom are acessed by a second staircase seperate from our own upstairs master on the other end of the house.) The application will involve an inspection by the Board of Health and will (hopefully) likely be rejected because the loft does not meet the criteria for a bedroom. They are known to be sticklers about that. With that determination in hand, we should be able to proceed with our addition...a convoluted way to win the game. The Town can't stipulate that the loft does not meet the criteria as a bedroom for rental purposes, then turn around and deny us a building permit because we already have 3 bedrooms...

Wish us luck!

Extra rooms that people claim as 'bedrooms' have to have a closet in my market. Never considered the size issue but I suppose it would have to be large enough for a bed. The egress issue I have never heard of except in basement spaces. When our walk out was built it was sufficient but ff 30 years and now the bedroom has to have it's own egress window. In our world the septic issue is the other way around. The size of the home determines the size of the septic so if you add on at some juncture, septic fail, sale of home....the county will be sure the two 'match' and force an upgrade of the septic if needed.

In my area, the only requirement for the bedroom designation is that it must have a closet. Our last house had a large office with French doors, another hallway door, big windows, high ceilings … it would be a beautiful bedroom, but we couldn’t list it as such, even though there was a very large and lighted walk-in hall closet right next to it.

IRC (International Residency Code) requires minimum 70 sq ft, shortest dimension 7', 2 means of egress (door and window with 5.7 sq ft net clear opening), at least half of the bedroom ceiling has to be 7' tall. But it does not specify that the walls have to meet up with the ceiling. Closet codes would be local/state. Codes and common acceptance are not necessarily the same.

Closet and door are not required here. Real estate descriptions are often "creative" here

My niece and husband lived in a 1BR (maybe a Jr. 1BR) in brand new construction that had glass french doors over an alcove type room where the bed went. The bathroom was off this. But the bedroom was clearing interior without its own window. I would have called it a studio.

The bed and bath description for the colonial-era house we looked at in Bristol, RI was "generous". A two bedrooms were basically pass-throughs to other rooms and one full bath was roughed in with no fixtures. The downstairs half bath was child-sized.

Here, it has to have a closet to be called a ”bedroom.”

Talk about odd ceiling heights and angles, our next door neighbors in our old house had an upstairs bedroom and bathroom. The ceiling in the hall that ran from the top of the stairs to the bedroom followed the pitch of the roof. It was so low that DH at 6’3” could not walk down it standing up. Same with the ceiling over the bathtub/shower. Nevertheless, when they got ready to sell, it sold and sold quickly..

at least half of the bedroom ceiling has to be 7' tall.

Interestingly, it met that criteria. The place was clearly owned by someone in architecture, so they probably knew that. I've seen all the permutations people discussed above, but never a partial wall before.

It was so low that DH at 6’3” could not walk down it standing up.

Given my penchant for historic homes, and given we are looking in New England, there has been a lot of this, particularly doorways and steps. DH is 6'1 and he simply requires that he is able to move about upright. Men.

Here's the house with the "cubicle bedrooms." I loved it in person, and like the small "village" it is in, but it was clearly headed for a bidding war and that never ends well IMHO. I also wonder how good resale would be; it is surely not for everyone and has its flaws and quirks. I think it is a good example how someone with a good eye can really add value, because it surely punches above its weight. https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/6-Worthington-St_Cambridge_MA_02138_M41156-08913

Closet and two ways of egress (door + window.)

When I watched that video of the narrow apartment in NYC, I almost got a panic attack when they were in the basement. It did not appear there were any windows or egress, other than the staircase. I get *very* claustrophobic if i am in a room with no windows and only one door. i would NOT do well in prison. 😂

Well then, Nini, please behave yourself!

LOL...I suppose a seller can call a room whatever but my understanding is that a bedroom must have a closet. A realtor it seems would or should inform a seller that what they are calling a bedroom is not and cannot be listed that way.

in my NYS experience, a bedroom MUST have two forms of escape (basically in case of a fire.) One would be the door. A small basement window, or decorative small attic window don't count as the second. I'm a former NYS realtor and I specialized in new home builds. What we would tell people is that the window should be large enough to admit a fully geared firefighter.

As far as closets go, well, that can vary. In older homes, closets weren't the custom. Armoires solved the problem or people would convert an empty bedroom into closet space. But if the house is say, under 75 years old, I would expect closets in the bedrooms.

In my area new build condos are flagrantly calling dens with no windows “bedrooms.” I think that should be illegal.

I would worry about fire safety with walls not to ceiling. Let alone privacy.

Hmm, are you saying that even just a drywall internal wall contains fire? hadn't thought of that.

I would install glass from the top of the wall to the ceiling. Doesn't matter because we weren't going to buy it anyway and I see it is under contract now.

In my area in Colorado, a ”bedroom” must have a closet, a doorway and an egress window. There may be other requirments that I don’t know about. I do see a lot of listings that use the term office to describe a non-conforming bedroom. In today’s environment, that is probably a selling point if the house otherwise has sufficient conforming bedrooms.

A standard drywall wall has a fire rating of 30 mins.

Closing bedroom door at night makes a HUGE difference to survivability in case of fire.

https://youtu.be/bSP03BE74WA

I never thought about it, and would not have guessed that. Interesting, thx