AIBU that calling a Dining Room a Bedroom does not make a house worth more?

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I think we need to stop considering the value of houses on the basis of the number of bedrooms, and marketing descriptions should be regulated to prevent houses from being marketed with misleading descriptions like this.

The two houses with the floor plans in this pic are in the same road, just 3 doors apart. They are both in a broadly similar state of repair.

One is correctly described as a 3 bedroom house. The floor area is 95m2

The other is actually slightly smaller at 90m2, but having put a bed into the Dining Room, and dividing that smaller floor area slightly differently, they somehow think it is worth £80,000 more than the house that is actually larger, and are marketing it as a FIVE BEDROOM house!

This is giving me the rage. AIBU?

A house is only ever worth what someone is going to pay for it. The vendors of the '5 bed' may be doing themselves a disservice, as people looking for a 5 bed would probably dismiss this as too small, and they're potentially pricing themselves out of the market for 3 bedrooms. I wouldn't say this kind of thing annoys me, I just think it's naive on the vendors' part.

I think most people can see through this sort of thing. Though they might get away with it if the downstairs 'bedroom' has an ensuite, and other areas have been extended to compensate for the loss of the dining room.

I would wait and see what they actually sell for.

and marketing descriptions should be regulated to prevent houses from being marketed with misleading descriptions like this.
Totally unreasonable, unrealistic and unenforcible.

If people want to pay over the odds that is there problem.

What next? Are you going to bring in a law stopping German car makers from charging premium prices for cars that are actually no better than average ones?

YABVU

In isolation no, of course it doesn't make it worth more, and most people know that. What makes it worth more is things like plot, decorative standard, kitchen, bathroom, carpets etc.

I get that any actual buyer would be fully aware that they are effectively buying a 3-bedroom home. However, the marketing like this causes problems for other too. Firstly it is impossible to do a search on Rightmove and other similar websites for a 4 bedroom house that is a genuine 4 bedroom house with 4 bedrooms on the 1st floor and an equivalent floor space of day-time rooms below. You have to open up every house and find a floorplan to find out whether it's a genuine option and it's tedious to run through doing this with a list of apparently 75 possible houses to find that actually only 8 of them are genuine. Secondly when valuing other houses in an area, having a data point that a 5 bedroom house sold for £X will affect the mortgage valuations of everyone else buying and selling nearby, based on a lie.

Secondly when valuing other houses in an area, having a data point that a 5 bedroom house sold for £X will affect the mortgage valuations of everyone else buying and selling nearby, based on a lie.
I really think you are overthinking this. People pay too much and too little (as defined by others) for houses every single day.
As I pointed out this happens in all markets - people pay way over the odds for "prestige" car brands all the time.

I am really surprised the EA / vendor has chosen to do this as I think it makes them look stupid.

Unless this is a student area where lots of houses are multiple occupancy and the front room would be rented out as a bedroom ...

Either way, I don't think we need legislation. I'd say it was a strategy likely to backfire.

It's a house. Presumably you would look at it before buying? A friend has her house up at the moment and is puzzled by no offers. It is ridiculously overpriced so nobody will even look at it. Don't like it, don't buy it.

You have to open up every house and find a floorplan to find out whether it's a genuine option and it's tedious to run through doing this with a list of apparently 75 possible houses to find that actually only 8 of them are genuine

I get that you are exaggerating to make a point. But how often is this happening?

Opening a link on a internet search is hardly onerous is it? And worth doing because you may find a gem that you might otherwise have missed!

In Germany, homes are described based on the number of rooms apart from the kitchen and bathroom. So, if there's a living room, four bedrooms and a dining room, this would be a six-room house, or possibly a five-and-a-half-room house if one of the rooms is not much bigger than a cupboard. (Can't see the pic very well.)

The British system is vague enough that you always have to look at the floor plan to see what is meant. But if you can put a bed in a room, then sure, why not call it a bedroom. Not everyone uses a dining room.

BTW OP I sympathise with you about lack of detail/data in online searches - but I don't want legislation.

A vital consideration of any house for me is the size of the garage - but it is almost never listed as estate agents seem to think no-one cares.

I won't be asking for law about it though.

I was also thinking of the 'student' or house to let to multiple occupier angle. People will call the most ridiculous spaces a bedroom, to try to raise the price. Look at all the box rooms too small for anything other than a cot that are being marketed as the 'third bedroom' all over the place!

In Portugal (I work as an agent here) we cannot describe a two bedroom house (described as per their land registry equivalent) with a converted dining room as a three bedroom.. We are only allowed to describe it as a 2+1. Sometimes the +1 is bigger than the first two bedrooms. Interestingly, most British people assume the +1 is just a box room (which does not really exist here).

On the other hand, I have seen a studio apartment (no bedrooms) with a large cupboard where the owner has built a bunk bed in order to have an apartment that sleeps 6 people. However, she is STILL only allowed to advertise it as a studio apartment.

Opening a link on a internet search is hardly onerous is it?
^This - if you are seriously looking of course.

ravenmum The German system sounds much better, in my opinion, especially now that most people's first step in looking for a house is to search online.

If we were to adopt this in the UK, we'd probably need to go through a dual description as a transition, e.g. your example could be described as a 'four bedroom/six room' house.

YANBU

I don't understand why we don't sell house based on their square footage, rather that the number of "bedrooms".
Of course, it's obvious if a "5 bedroom" is actually a multi-million pound mansion or a grotty terrace with 3 box rooms, but it's still a stupid system.

First, your 5 bed mansion will also have 5 living rooms, 3 offices, 2 dining-rooms .. so it's completely pointless
More importantly, it would stop people trying to sell a "box room" as a bedroom when it's only a cupboard. I am sorry, but if you can't put a double bed, 2 side tables and a wardrobe in a room, it's not a bedroom.

The number of "rooms" as opposed to "bedrooms" wouldn't solve the issue, but would already be a big improvement.

It used to be the case that families looking at 5 bedroom homes wanted extra living space too. Dining rooms, studys, games rooms etc.

Now that a 5 bed is just as likely to be a multiple occupancy, the dining room will earn more profit as a bedroom.

How would the Portuguese bedroom rule work for a bungalow or flat where all rooms other than kitchen/utility/bathroom are on tbe same floor and could be used for any purpose?

There's no law that says a home should have a dining room or that bedrooms have to be on a different floor to the reception rooms ...

The houses aren't the same so the difference in price isn't simply because they're named rooms differently. They have completely different layouts. And yy some layouts are preferable to others. Otherwise every 4 bedroom house would cost the same.

It doesn't bother me how rooms are labelled. I've never bought or rented a house without using the rooms differently from how the EA described them. In our current house, we use a 'bedroom' as an office. In our old house, we used a 'bedroom' as a dressing room. In my first flat, I used a tiny 'study' as a spare bedroom.

I'm actually surprised so many posters agree with you.

They're probably shooting themselves in the foot by marketing it that way. We recently sold a house that could have been marketed as 5 bed (had a good sized study downstairs in addition to lounge and dining room) but we didn't think it would add any value or make it sell any quicker so we marketed it as 4 bed. Anything that's trying to trick people like the one you described would put me off massively.

but that's exactly why we agree!

It doesn't bother me how rooms are labelled. I've never bought or rented a house without using the rooms differently from how the EA described them.

because the number of "bedroom" is completely pointless.

Who wants a 3 to 4 or 5 bed house with downstairs bathroom only? However marketed.

I have a 5bed new build (2011) it has 4 bedrooms upstairs and 1 downstairs , although to me it really is a dining room not a bedroom , next to it though is a bathroom with a shower. We were told that new builds over a certain size must have a shower and bedroom down stairs along with a disabled entrance (we have a ramp at back door)

So really you would also call our house 4 beds but in fact it is a 5 bed by building regulations.

Who wants a 3 to 4 or 5 bed house with downstairs bathroom only?

someone who prefer having an extra room upstairs, and find the bathroom downstairs more practical, as much less noisy?

I have seen houses with a toilet upstairs only, I find that much stranger.