2 bedroom home needs to have 2 parking spaces?

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I have looked at a house marketed as a 1 bed, but it has 2 bedrooms. I asked why it wasn't officially a 2 bed home and was told that it's because the house has only got 1 designated parking space.

Is anyone able to confirm whether or not this is true?
 
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Local councils often have set policies as to how many parking spaces should be required on new developments, according to how many bedrooms there are in each dwelling.
Developers often get round this, as you have seen.
 
If it is marketed as a one bed, but has two then surely the second bedroom is an unlawful conversion and that brings all the statutory and insurance implications in to play?
 
If it is marketed as a one bed, but has two then surely the second bedroom is an unlawful conversion and that brings all the statutory and insurance implications in to play?

There are 4 of these new builds, 2 have sold.

It is marketed as a one bed. The second room upstairs is marketed as a 'dressing room / study'. It has its own door to gain entry, but there is also a door going from the bedroom to this 'dressing room/study'....

I don't know the rules, but maybe you can gather something from that.
 
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i suspect they were not given planning permission for the number of car spaces, we had exactly the same issue with a local builder here, trying to put too many homes in a small place.
however, in the end after some changes and still not conforming to the local council parking car limit, on appeal , it was allowed , just waiting to see 5 houses go up on a 2 bits of land that usually would only have 2 houses on, he tried to get 9........
so it may be that by saying 1 bedroom, then the builder go away with the permission, but perhaps you will have to keep as 1 bedroom, when reselling and any other issues that may involve

perhaps worth talking to the planning dept at the council
 
i suspect they were not given planning permission for the number of car spaces, we had exactly the same issue with a local builder here, trying to put too many homes in a small place.
however, in the end after some changes and still not conforming to the local council parking car limit, on appeal , it was allowed , just waiting to see 5 houses go up on a 2 bits of land that usually would only have 2 houses on, he tried to get 9........
so it may be that by saying 1 bedroom, then the builder go away with the permission, but perhaps you will have to keep as 1 bedroom, when reselling and any other issues that may involve

perhaps worth talking to the planning dept at the council


But what is mean't by keeping it as a 1 bedroom? I am fine selling on as a '1 bedroom property', but as long as it's fine that there is a 2nd room upstairs that can be used as a bedroom then that's great.

I assume there are no rules stopping me from sealing up the door so there is no doorway through to either room so it feels like it is a separate 2nd bedroom and not a walk in wardrobe or study?
 
but there is also a door going from the bedroom to this 'dressing room/study'
Isn't that perfectly normal?

I'm failing to see issue. It's a one bed. Just because you think that another room can be used for another purpose does not alter that fact.
 
When buying the house, people will use the space as they see it rather than keep strictly to the wording on a planning permission (though accepting this might affect insurance).
Sometimes a connecting door between two rooms is a requirement of Building Control (Part B - means if escape, eg if there is a conservatory preventing an escape window?). Could this explain the communicating door?
 
Isn't that perfectly normal?

I'm failing to see issue. It's a one bed. Just because you think that another room can be used for another purpose does not alter that fact.

I have no idea what you are saying.

I know it's officially a 1 bed, where did I say it's officially a 2 bed......I didn't.

There's nothing stopping anyone from using the study/dressing room as an extra bedroom though. It's perfectly fine as a single bedroom as it is an ok size and has a window.
 
When buying the house, people will use the space as they see it rather than keep strictly to the wording on a planning permission (though accepting this might affect insurance).
Sometimes a connecting door between two rooms is a requirement of Building Control (Part B - means if escape, eg if there is a conservatory preventing an escape window?). Could this explain the communicating door?

When I originally looked into why the property was not classed as a 2 bed I thought it might be to do with the window in the room in question. I can't remember what exactly it was about the window (size/the way it opened), I assume size, and this was a possible fire safety issue....

So when I asked the estate agent why the house wasn't officially a 2 bedroom and they said it was down to the parking, I was surprised. I don't know why parking would affect the clarification of a room in the house, so this is why I questioned it in this thread to see if anyone could confirm this is the case and why it is the case.

I did say to the estate agent that I was considering sealing that door off as a cupboard. So you'd open the door from the 'study/dressing room/spare bedroom' - (whatever you want to call this spare room) and inside would be a cupboard. If there was a regulatory/fire safety issue with doing this, shouldn't the estate agent have told me that I cannot seal that door off?

I suspect that the window in the 'study/dressing room/spare bedroom' isn't within fire safety regulations, but I don't know this as a fact, and this may be why the door is there to gain access to the main bedroom where there is a larger window.

If anyone could shed a light on what the most likely situation is here.

-Is it classed as a 1 bed solely due to it only having 1 official car parking space.

-Is the door between these 2 rooms there as the builder wants to give the owner the option to use it as a walk in dressing room.

-Is the door there because of fire safety.

And also, can the door be sealed up or are there regulations preventing me from doing so if it is a fire safety risk?


Have attached an image of the room, although you can't see the window so well, but may be able to get an idea of the size. I have also attached the floor plan showing the door going between both rooms.

Screen Shot 2020-02-21 at 17.51.07.png




e7ccfb393603c828b8f943bb25b8591019f6d006.jpg
 
I think you would need to see the original planning permission if it was a car-parking issue.
It might be that the window in the main bedroom is not suitable as an escape window (eg because of size, cill height or external obstruction)
so the escape route is through the interconnecting door if that room has an escape window.
So why would they put a door onto the landing?
Possibly the builder hopes occupiers will see the possibilites for what they are and block up the interconnecting door and use it as a 2 bed?
Who knows?
 
I think you would need to see the original planning permission if it was a car-parking issue.
It might be that the window in the main bedroom is not suitable as an escape window (eg because of size, cill height or external obstruction)
so the escape route is through the interconnecting door if that room has an escape window.
So why would they put a door onto the landing?
Possibly the builder hopes occupiers will see the possibilites for what they are and block up the interconnecting door and use it as a 2 bed?
Who knows?

The estate agent was saying that you could just knock the whole wall out, but that seems a bit mad, it's more appealing as 2 separate rooms.

I need to find out if I can seal that door up. I personally don't need it sealed up when I live there, but I am thinking of when I sell it in the future - I think it's more appealing to potential future buyers if that door is sealed up and a complete wall and therefore 2 clear separate rooms, one of which can be used as a bedroom.

But I also suppose that with this size of home a lot of buyers would be young couples looking to start a family and they'd like the access door if they had a baby in the smaller room, though it doesn't take much more effort/time to go across the landing from room to room.
 
If you like it then just buy it, and if people come to view it in the future they will see it for what it is a two bedroom property.
 
My only comment would be whatever the estate agents says, definitely don't trust it. They would say anything with a straight face to get the commission.
Parking is a convenient excuse to make it should like the is no issue at all so no one will be put off, if they said you can't block up the door that would put some people off.
On that note, well done for doing your own research!
 
My only comment would be whatever the estate agents says, definitely don't trust it. They would say anything with a straight face to get the commission.
Parking is a convenient excuse to make it should like the is no issue at all so no one will be put off, if they said you can't block up the door that would put some people off.
On that note, well done for doing your own research!

I have had my mortgage offer through and a valuation took place. On the valuation report they put bedrooms as 2. If a valuer sees it as a 2 bedroom house then surely it can be classed as a 2 bed house. Surely a valuer would know if the door or window or parking, or whatever denies the room from being classed as a bedroom.

I can only assume that the developer was only granted permission to build 4 x 1 bedroom homes due to the space available, so they built a 1 bed house and just called the 2nd 'bedroom' a walk in wardrobe/study to avoid planning control to come down on them, but also to boost the value of the property. I assume that door between the rooms is just there so the developers can go 'look it's a walk in wardrobe'.
 

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