What is The Legal Requirement For a Bedroom

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The Definition of a Bedroom

As a real estate agent for the past thirty-seven years, many people ask me about the legal requirement for a bedroom.

Are there specific rules for a bedroom?

They are usually asking because they have a room in their home that may have the potential to be a bedroom.

While what defines a bedroom may seem obvious in most circumstances, the concept is not quite as clear when selling a home.

Home sellers naturally want to comply with the law, so it is essential to research what a “bedroom” is in your area.

You may find that different people have different definitions – home inspectors, Realtors, home appraisers, contractors, and more. If you are selling, you cannot afford such ambiguity.

It makes sense to have an accurate bedroom count when marketing a home.

The last thing you want is an angry home buyer suing you somewhere down the road for bedroom count misrepresentation!

The number of bedrooms in a home directly correlates to the price of a home, so you want to be very careful in providing accurate information.

So when someone asks, “what is legally a bedroom?” it is crucial to get the answer correct.

Keep reading, and you will see a complete explanation of the legal requirements for a bedroom. We will go over all the rules for a room to be called a bedroom.

Table of Contents For Bedroom Requirements

We will cover the following requirement considerations for bedrooms. These are the rules that define a bedroom.

Septic systems and bedrooms
Additions with no permits
Size requirements for bedrooms
Does a bedroom need to have a window
Does a bedroom need to have a closet
Other egress requirements
Ceiling height requirements
Heat and cooling for bedrooms
Appraisal requirements for bedrooms
Master bedrooms explained

Septic Systems and Bedroom Counts

Before I take you through the requirements of what you need to call a room and bedroom, let me first explain bedroom counts and septic systems.

In Massachusetts and probably other states, you cannot say you have more bedrooms than what your septic system is designed for.

For example, let’s say you have a three-bedroom septic system design. Sometimes during your ownership, you add a bedroom addition to the property.

Without increasing the septic system capacity, you CANNOT market your home as a four-bedroom.

To be clear, it is also possible that your home has what could be considered four bedrooms by definition. You may never have added an addition at all. None of this matters, however, if your septic system is not designed for four bedrooms.

Misrepresenting Bedrooms Leads to Lawsuits

Misrepresenting bedroom counts based on septic system capacity happens more than you can imagine. You must be careful about this as a real estate agent and seller.

Lawsuits are happening right now where real estate agents and homeowners are being sued over bedroom count misrepresentation.

If you are a buyer and purchase what you think is a four-bedroom home, you don’t want to find out later that you only have three. A lower bedroom count equals a lower home value.

When a buyer goes to sell their home, what they thought was a four-bedroom is a three-bedroom. You can understand why this would be disturbing.

A few better ways to know your accurate bedroom count are to refer to the “septic system as-built,” which shows how the septic system was constructed or your Title V inspection. In Massachusetts, a Title V is required to sell a home when the buyer gets a mortgage.

Lenders want to know if they are lending money on a property with a functioning septic system.

In some towns, including Hopkinton, Massachusetts, the local board of health will require a bedroom count deed restriction that says the home cannot be marketed for more than the septic system capacity. They do this when homeowners are adding an addition or finishing a basement.

One of the significant benefits of having town sewer is you don’t have to worry about septic systems and bedroom count misrepresentation.

An Addition But No Building Permits

Over the years, there have been times working as a real estate agent when I have seen people add an addition without taking out the necessary building permits.

They may have the proper septic capacity to handle the additional bedroom addition. For whatever reason, however, some owners skip out on the building permit process.

Whether it is just an inconvenience or they want to save a few bucks, it can be a big mistake when selling.

Discovering construction that a seller did not permit can be a big negative for a buyer. There is no telling how the city or town will deal with this issue.

There have been cases, although remote, where the local building inspector makes you rip out the non-permitted addition.

Even if they don’t go to that extreme, they will likely make you go through the permitting process. Indeed a major inconvenience when you are in the middle of a real estate transaction.

What Does a Room Need to Be Considered a Bedroom?

What makes a room a bedroom?

Having more bedrooms makes a home more desirable and valuable, so it makes sense that homeowners would want to define every room big enough for a cot as a bedroom.

But laws across the country are a little more strict with what a bedroom means, and you want to ensure you are not breaking the law when you sell your home.

You also want to appeal to buyers with your listing, not drive them away with vague definitions of what you offer.

A room must meet the following criteria to be legally considered a bedroom.

These requirements will dictate what a bedroom is and isn’t.

1. Square footage Requirements For Bedrooms

The main thing buyers are worried about is whether the bedroom has enough room to count as a bedroom. The law is concerned with size, too.

Depending on where you look, you will find that a bedroom should be at least 70 to 80 square feet or be at least 7 feet in any horizontal direction.

It’s what’s considered the legal size of a bedroom.

Many sellers, particularly in urban markets, would like to label smaller rooms as bedrooms, but doing so is likely to get you into trouble.

It is essential to check the sq ft calculation to ensure you meet the bedroom size requirements.

2. Egress Requirements For a Bedroom

For safety, it is essential that a bedroom – a place where someone would be sleeping – needs to have at least two ways to get out if necessary. The first means of egress is a door that allows entry and exit into the room.

For a bedroom, one means of egress must go outside the building.

Think of a window large enough to crawl through. Fire code dictates the window’s dimensions, so check your local regulations to ensure the window in your bedroom meets local requirements.

For some general guidance, the International Residential Code says the window must have a minimum opening area of 5.7 square feet, a minimum opening height of 24 inches, and a minimum opening width of 20 inches.

The distance between the finished floor and the window sill can be 44 inches.

Also, the IRC mandates a minimum distance between the finished floor of the room and the window sill of 24 inches to prevent a child from falling out of an open window.

These are considered the egress window requirements for a bedroom.

3. Height Requirements For Bedrooms

Any bedroom must have a tall enough ceiling for people to walk comfortably under, typically 7 feet high or more. Height requirements mean you can’t label a crawl space, a bedroom, or the space under the stairs.

The bedroom ceiling height may not need to be 7 feet all the way around, depending on the room. Attic rooms, for instance, will have a slope. But at least half of the ceiling should meet minimum requirements.

4. You Need Temperature Control For Bedrooms

A bedroom typically needs a way to heat or cool down, depending on the area. A vent from the central heating or cooling unit is sufficient.

Or you could include a window unit for air conditioning or a heating unit in colder climates. Either way, for any room to be considered a living space, it is supposed to have a heat source.

The heat source needs to be permanent. A temporary heat source does not qualify.

For example, real estate agents sometimes try to label a three-season porch as a room. It is not appropriate to do so unless there is a heat source.

Does a Bedroom Have to Have a Window?

Yes, it does. A room cannot be considered a bedroom without an operable window. Further, the window must be 5.7 square feet, a minimum of 20 inches wide by 24 inches high, with the opening being no more than 44 inches from the floor.

These window requirements for bedrooms are according to the International building code. The reasons there are strict requirements regarding having a window in a bedroom is safety.

In the event of a fire or other catastrophe where exiting by other means is impossible, a window is necessary to escape.

Having multiple windows makes it easier to get out in an emergency. Other benefits of having windows in a bedroom include health and resale value.

Fresh air and natural light are excellent features in any home. Buyers love to have more windows which make real estate values increase.

Having a window is one of the essential factors in what constitutes a bedroom.

Does a Bedroom Have to Have a Closet?

No, a room must not include a closet to be considered a bedroom.

When buyers and sellers ask me what can be considered a bedroom, closets are one of the first things that they think about.

Most buyers today expect a bedroom to include a closet, but the law is not as specific.

In older homes, a closet may not be included in a bedroom. In a newer home, a bedroom should probably have a closet to meet buyer expectations, but you can usually get away with no closet in older homes.

Buyers of older homes will see plenty of bedrooms without closets and are not likely to expect every bedroom in your home to include a closet.

In some locations, as long as you can include a bed and an armoire or something like it, you don’t have to have a closet for it to be considered a bedroom.

When marketing a home that does not have a closet but you’re planning on calling it a bedroom – it is always good to disclose that upfront.

Buyers appreciate knowing exactly what they are getting before looking at a home.

What is Considered a Bedroom in an Appraisal?

A real estate appraiser will look at all of the bedroom requirements discussed. There are no additional requirements in an appraisal to determine a legal bedroom.

FHA bedroom requirements are the same as those of any other loan.

What is a Master Bedroom?

The master is the largest bedroom in the home. It is typically occupied by the head or heads of a household.

It can also be referred to as the primary bedroom.

The master bedroom will often have an en-suite bath. In such cases, it will be called a master bedroom suite.

In many older, less expensive homes, a master bedroom would only have a half bath. The bedroom requirements are the same.

Making A Basement A Bedroom

If your basement meets all the requirements listed for a bedroom, you could label it a bedroom. However, keep in mind that calling a basement a bedroom can get tricky.

Doing so can confuse buyers and their agents, and making the windows in a basement quality as emergency egress can also be problematic.

Depending on the height of the windows and the size of the window wells, you may need to make some substantial adjustments to the windows.

It may be easier to hype up the options offered by the basement – as a bedroom, studio apt, or anything else you can think of – rather than try to define it as a bedroom.

It is much easier to label a room in a basement as a bedroom when you have normal-sized windows like you find on the first and second floors.

This is why walk-out basements are considered far more valuable than having four concrete walls. Everyone likes natural light. Having the ability for a basement to feel just like the upper-level spaces can significantly impact value.

The bottom line is you can call a room in the basement a bedroom as long as it meets the criteria mentioned above. Violating the requirements for a basement bedroom can get you into trouble.

What If Your Room Doesn’t Meet The Minimum Requirements?

It can be frustrating to realize that what you thought you could call a bedroom will not meet the minimum legal requirements. But all hope is not lost.

You have a few different options. First, you can label the room as something other than a bedroom but something that will still attract buyers.

You might have an office on your hands or an art room. A nursery or just an extra room might work as titles too.

Often real estate agents call an additional space a “bonus” room. The point is you have the extra space you can market as a “flex space” that the buyer can use as they see fit.

You can get creative and still make it seem like you offer an exciting bonus for buyers who choose your home.

Your other option is to renovate and see if you can make the room meet the minimum legal requirements for a bedroom. Renovations will only be appropriate in certain situations.

Still, if you can have a contractor expand a window, add a closet or increase the square footage, you will benefit greatly.

Bedrooms are a significant factor in the value of a home, so an additional bedroom may get you a lot more money from your sale.

Just be sure, though, that if you are doing a renovation and have a septic system, you comply with the law on proper bedroom counts.

More and more real estate agents make this mistake without a homeowner even realizing it could be a significant problem.

Legal Bedroom Requirements For Massachusetts

Massachusetts has no additional rules for a room to meet minimum requirements over and above what has been discussed. The bedroom definition in real estate would remain the same.

Final Recap on Bedroom Requirements

Before calling a room in your home a bedroom, make sure you understand the local and national laws regarding bedroom counts. Check with a local attorney or a qualified real estate agent, and I emphasize a competent agent.

Many real estate agents make a living flying by the seat of their pants, breaking laws all the time. Some agents keep the courts busy by making misrepresentations or improper disclosures. Don’t be a victim of sloppy work!

I hope this has helped determine what can be considered a bedroom.

Bedroom Requirements: Windows, Heating, & Closets Explained