is this a bedroom?

[daveppp]

i have bought a ground floor flat. The layout is as follows - enter front door, into hall. Off hall to bedroom 1, lounge, and kitchen. through kitchen directly to bathroom and dining room. The question is, can the dining room be classed as a bedroom? is there any issues with it leading directly from the kitchen?

any help, greatly appreciated, as i'm sure someone knows the answer to this - but of course, i don't !!!

 

[Shytalkz]

Classed or used? Yes, to either, if that's what you want to do. If you use it as one, think about kitchen smells though and, more pertinently, how you get out of there if there's a fire in the kitchen; as long as you have a window that's good enough for means of escape, then feel free to use your flat in whatever way you see fit - the Thought Police are not into room nomenclature. Yet...

 

[daveppp]

thanks for that. We do plan to use it as a bedroom, and we have a ground floor window that is easy to get out of in an emergency. the people before us used it as a dining room as they were a couple. I sippose my question relates to the future and building regs, as to whether we could sell it as a two bedroom, and whether building regs had an issue with a bedroom being linked directly off a kitchen?

 

[Deluks]

While 2 bed properties generally fetch more dough than 1 bed, the absence of somewhere to eat may put buyers right off, so you'd be better off marketing it as a roomy 1 bed property.

I have friends who have flatshared in houses where the living/eating space have been made into rooms for the purpose of squeezing in more tenants. People generally get fed up after a few months and move on to somewhere else that's got somewhere to eat properly.

If you can squeeze table and chairs into the kitchen, or the living room has space for them at one end, then yeh, otherwise I'd say fuggedaboutit.

 

[daveppp]

thank you. it's more of a building regs question though. is it possible to say its a bedroom, regardless of its actual use? as i say the room leads directly from the kitchen.

 

[bob-the-builder]

 

[daveppp]

what you say sounds logical to me - from a safety point of view - i will try to speak to building regs tomorrow and get an answer -

 

[Shytalkz]

It's nothing to do with BRegs as to how you choose to use the flat: it exists, you're not changing anything structurally, just using it in a different manner from that which it was originally intended.

They don't need to be contacted: as long as you're happy that, if the worst happened, whoever was sleeping in there could get out by other means, then that's all that's important; even if you didn't give a toss, it's still nothing to do with any authority as to what use you make of that room.

 

[kitessurfer]

Hi,
I'm in the process of converting use of garage to habitable room (i got PP and building notice). If I get any queries from the council or if authorities decide to review council tax, I for one wouldn't state that this is a bedroom, only a study. I'm no expert!
Attempt to sell as 2 bed, but if they review council tax banding then its a one bed... there's a thought..
KS