to think a 1.80m x 1.90m room should not be called a bedroom?!

[Winnipegdreamer]

Just that. We are currently looking to buy and so many of the houses coming onto the market have a 3rd bedroom that wouldn’t even fit a single bed in!?

In my mind if it can’t fit at least a single bed in it, then it shouldn’t be called a bedroom!!

We are staying in my mil 4 bed. It's very spacious with 3 doubles and one proper single. ( prob considered a double now)

It's not that attractive 80 build but for a family it's fab.

It's going on probate sale soon.

A room that size would be fine as a children's room with a toddler or a junior bed (70 x 160 cm), so it could suit a young family for years.

Yup. We have a 3 bedroom house - one room you can’t fit a single bed in. The other one can only fit a single bed plus a bedside table. No built in storage at all so no room for wardrobe/chest of drawers.

We’ve managed by only having one child and using one room for her bed and the other room for her wardrobe/chest of drawers. It’s insane and really shouldn’t be allowed,

I know that developers are now not allowed to use small furniture in show homes anymore

I just wouldn't buy it and if people continuing buying houses like this developers will keep building them.

Chocolatecakefan

Is it possible to just knock the two rooms together? At least that way space isn't wasted by an extra wall and door. It sounds like really it's a 2 bedroom house and someone has split a normal sized room into two tiny ones.

We viewed a house where the second bedroom was only about 5 feet by 4 feet. There wasn't even a door. It was basically a landing with a window. The house had been built in the Georgian era and the second bedroom had been chopped to create an inside bathroom (which was also tiny). The estate agent was clearly like "it's too small" as well. But based on us viewing that they did recommend the house we ended up buying, which has 3 double bedrooms in a nicer location.

I have seen recently built houses whose master bedroom is so small there is only room for a 4 foot 6 bed. Anything larger and you wouldn't have been able to open the bathroom door. The layout meant the bed could only go in one position.
Have you noticed on Right Move etc, a bedroom might look spacious until you notice that the door way and furniture look suspiciously elongated. I have seen a loo in a bathroom look like it seated 3 people because the photographer was using a lens to make the room look bigger.
My other bugbear is the living/dining/sitting, which might be okay, if you like that sort of thing, if the room is actually the size of 3 rooms knocked together, but not if it is essentially a sitting room with a kitchen squashed against one wall. They just look so tiny.
And of course, the surfeit of loos. Why would a 2 bed house need 2 bathrooms (at the expense of bedroom space) and a downstairs cloakroom?
Yes op, you are right, that size is not a bedroom!

It's because in the UK we price our houses based on numbers of bedrooms (as a marker of size) rather than actual square footage. So 4 bedroomed house is worth more than 3 bedroomed house, even if it's the same size. To get the most for your house, people then cram extra bedrooms in to the same footprint even if you can't fit a bed in them.

When I bought my current flat it had a second bedroom about that size - but 5 metres high. It was very strange!
There was a stage when I considered fitting it with floor to ceiling storage racks on either side, but it's now the kitchen (with a lower ceiling) and a larger living space, no second bedroom.

DS's room was about 20mm too small to fit any bed other than a simple divan in it. The floor space left after wardrobe (or drawers) plus bed was so scanty that a divan would be a very poor use of space.

We constructed a bed suspended by metal work to the walls so it "floats". It's lower than a normal bunk bed for good longevity of head room, and still has space for shelves and drawers underneath. It's a really cosy and functional room, but is about as small as you could legitimately claim as being a bedroom.

Bedroom 4 was originally even smaller and an awkward L shape. Fortunately a previous occupant had extended the house to make a good, if awkwardly shaped room.

The utility room was clearly designed by a man who doesn't do laundry. After the washer and dryer, it is just a tiny door width coridor, and it's a tangle dealing with washer/dryer/ internal/ external doors.

Estate agents are sneaky bastards. We viewed a 4 bed house when we were house hunting. Only bedroom 4 could only be accessed by walking through bedroom 3. Bedroom 3 was basically a stretch of landing with a bed in it

Yes, we're house hunting but it's very annoying.
We want a 4 bed house. The number of EA that call a downstairs reception room 2 a fourth bedroom really gets my goat. It's a bloody dining room FFS.

1960s or earlier seem to be better.

@DinosApple gotta love a downstairs bedroom to get your hopes up 😂😂😩😩

We went to view a 1 bed property and the bedroom was billed as a double.

I’m 5”7.5 and I stood in the middle and stretched out both arms and touched two walls either side “Whit? A double? A double room?”.

DH was laughing so much the estate agent came in to see what was so funny. He wasn’t impressed and kept harumphing ‘it’s a double room madam’. The next one he showed up was a repossession and everything that could be taken - including all the kitchen units, white goods etc has been ripped out - even the wall that partitioned the kitchen from the living room has disappeared.

Our bed is bigger than that! It’s an American king size bed so it’s 183 x 204 cm

That's not even a bloody en suite bathroom size, and they're small !

@Winnipegdreamer. Absolutely! And when we sell ours I'm sure they'll try to market it as a 4 bed, I'd rather it be described as generous 3 bed house!

When DH sold his bachelor pad, it was marketed as a 1.5 bed house 😂. It had a big landing.

Regulations around size changed under Thatcher

What was the reasoning behind the change in regulations? I just don't understand it!

Elektra what do you think the reasoning was? Deregulate so people can make lots of money from building shoebox sized so-called houses, of course!

Houses in the UK are tiny. The one I live in was built in 1985. It is a palace with massive rooms compared to some of the new builds around here. I grew up in the Netherlands and was pretty shocked at what I found when I moved here.

If that’s all you’re seeing in your budget then you need to adjust your expectations to match. A lot of houses don’t have storage space in all the bedrooms so you have to get creative.

When i purchased my house it was up with 2 estate agents, 1 was marketing it as a 4 bed and 1 as a 3 bed with office, the 4th bedroom was 1.75m by 2.10m, it could fit a single bed in and that was it. I purchased it from the estate agent who marketed it as a 3 bed and have moved a partition wall by over a metre to increase the room size. Now its a 4 bed.

@ GrumpyHoonMain I’ve definitely seen many within budget, sadly whilst we were saving and not in this slow market which seems to produce tiny, untouched for 30+ years and 2.5 bedroom jobbies.

I’m not asking for storage space, I need it to fit a single bed. Which I don’t think is unreasonable if they are calling it a bedroom

And it's even worse when they're not rectangular but have weird alcoves .

Looking at moving and one of the places to rent had a living room so small and awkwardly shaped that even my modular sofa couldn't fit.

Not relevant to buying a house, but it needs to be 50 sq ft to count as half a bedroom (for a child under 10), 70 sq ft for a single bedroom (for an older child, two younger children, or one adult) and 110 sq ft for two older children or adults.

So if you are a social housing tenant, and your third room is a box room, appeal to your landlord to have it downgraded (e.g. to 2 or 2.5 rooms). Which could save bedroom tax, and potentially rent. Though if you have a parlour style second living room they may claim that counts as a bedroom (there is precedent against this if that is not its long-established use though).