to think that bedrooms should be big enough to put a bed in

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Just fed up with the number of houses we go to see which are 'three' bedroom by which they mean two bedrooms and another tiny room which is too small for a blooming bed. What is the point. And yes, I know I can look at the floor plan first, but after two years we're desperate. I keep hoping a three bedroom house will have three rooms which are big enough for beds.

I thought you could only describe something as a bedroom if it was big enough for a bed, otherwise it should be described as a boxroom. This isn't much help if people are mis-describing stuff though, and sounds frustrating...

I know, it is ridiculous how many three bed houses are actually 2 bed plus a cot room.

Keep looking, we spent six months looking before we found somewhere with three proper big rooms.

I think a boxroom is a room that has to be accessed from another room, rather than having a separate door. But honestly we see these houses and mostly there is enough room for a bed and that's all. no wardrobe - so the clothes would have to hang up in another room - one place they'd just hung them all in the hall outside. And some are just too small. just room for a cot.

yanbu at all

we saw one house where it looked like there was a full bed in the third 'bedroom'. cleverly made up with proper bedding and cushions.

but my trusty tape measure revealed it was toddler bed size.

Yanbu. DD has the boxroom and a small childs bed in it.

I know other people in the area who have had to have slightly smaller bed especially made for the room.

It's not a build either, just some serious scrimping on the estate and crappy design. DS's larger room could lose 1m and make DD's room more spacious.

I feel your frustration.. We are looking too. I keep seeing houses that are 2/3 bedrooms. They are priced the same as 3 bedrooms, but the 3rd bedroom is actually a downstairs reception room. So if you don't want a dining room, great, but if you want somewhere to actually eat your dinner.. its just an expensive 2 bed.

we have seen a few, but like you say it is maybe nine in ten they are just really, really tiny. some even have the headroom thing for the stairs in, so there's like this step (actually the downstairs ceiling) in the wall.

Typo - 'Not a new build either'.

the third bedroom downstairs! yes, i've not viewed those. one was three bedrooms and on the floorplan, the third bedroom was in a home office thing!

sorry I mean a home office - IN THE GARDEN! really?!

There did used to be a minimum size for rooms rule but one of the governments disposed of it. Thatchers I think...?

I completely agree with you it is way too easy to describe a tiny room as a bedroom and therefore price it higher. Obviously if it was in the powers that be's interest they could bring the rules back but don't hold your breath!

we had the same problem when we were looking last year! we ended up moving outside of our ideal area in order to get something that had a third bedroom big enough to get a bed in it.

meglet, yeah i think we might end up doing that - having a bed made. what a ridiculous situation though.

When we were looking at new builds a few years ago i noticed this, no room for any other furniture other than a (small) bed OR one of the reception rooms downstairs being called a bedroom when it is actually a dining room!

I'm just feeling particularly down about it because we just got beaten to a house with three reasonable bedrooms. Now we're thinking the only way to do it is to do a loft conversion....

YANBU We had a house like that and didn't notice until we came to sell it. I thought that minimum room sizes applied only to social housing.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parker_Morris_Committee was what I was thinking of.

well thanks guys, I don't know why it makes me feel better to know everyone is in the same boat, but it does! - and wheresthelight has even found a house with three proper bedrooms. Of course, by the time there's only the two of us, we'll be able to move up to a four-bed. Housing in this country is just ... and I'm one of the lucky ones, I know.

Yes it is frustrating. An estate agent once told us that houses in our price bracket were only good upstairs or downstairs, but not both. We laughed - plainly upstairs and doenstairs are usually exactly the same size! But 20 houses later we realised he was right. Those that were good upstairs and down were simply too expensive. So we compromised on the upstairs to get the best living space.

We have had success building in beds and customising wardrobes to fit over the cut-out bit over the stairs, but it is silly that we had to do it for the sake of 6 inches.

oh pico2, that's interesting - and the space to move about the furniture too. The number of times I've seen 'double' rooms where the double bed is up against the wall. It's not a lie, but...

Yanbu. You should see some of the flats in london. I remember one that no way could you get a double bed into the 'bedroom' and estate agent suggested the bed should go in the kitchen/lounge.....

Floorplan of my flat that is up for sale at the moment..

Look for ex-local authority properties. Granted it may not be ideal location but in my experience they are built with much bigger rooms. Granted we had to compromise on kitchen size but when we bought it last year we had planned to knock the kitchen wall out and create a huge kitchen/ diner/ lounge/ family room. You could fit a double bed in all three rooms with space for furniture.

Ex-LA usually tend to be a steal on the ££ too, we only paid £75k for ours in 2014.

Have a look on some Housing Association websites, in my county theres a few who regularly buy and sell to keep a wide range of portfolio.

pifflepants yeah. we've seen a couple of new builds with large bedrooms, but tiny living rooms. I don't know how those architects live their lives???!

Oh and good luck with the house hunt

I am in the same boat but I was not clever enough to use a tape measure in our small bedroom when we viewed it !!

So now my Ds needs to go into a big bed it means that he will only be able to fit the bed in and no room for a wardrobe!

We are now looking to get the chimney removed so he can have a wardrobe !

Most houses unless 4 bed that we saw had a box room.