Bedroom with tall skylight no other window

[Blueberrycheesecake1]

Hi

I wonder if MN can help my brother :)

He is considering buying a flat where the bedroom has a tall ceiling and high skylight (out of reach). 1st floor. It's a very bright flat generally.

Would you be OK living in a bedroom like that or is it claustrophobic?

I've tried seeing if there are any fire escape issues but can't see anything definitive - the door to the room is right next to a door leading to an outside walkway if that helps.

Any comments very appreciated!

I'm pretty sure that a bedroom is supposed to have another means of escape besides the door. If there was a fire the other side of the bedroom door the occupant would be toast if they couldn't reach the window!

I agree - I wouldn't be happy with a bedroom that didn't have a window to escape from if there was a fire. I'm not entirely sure that a room like that is allowed to be described as a bedroom - is it a new build or conversion?

Thanks - that's what I thought. I should have said the skylight would be accessible from a bed / small steps. It seems from guidance that might be OK but not clear on that.

It's a conversion, yes described as two bedrooms, and was last time it was sold too!

(With the same layout)

It has to be usable as a permanent escape route. I had a flat fall through because of exactly this as it meant the property didn't conform with building regs.

In my case I actually tried out the skylight as an escape route and because it was from a basement they'd used really toughened glass in it for security which made it far too heavy to lift and crawl out of. The developer in this case had thought to build steps up to it but hadn't thought to check the skylight was usable as an exit.

I lived in a (strangely) extended cottage for a few years. The master bedroom had one very high skylight, and no proper window. It did, however, still have the old back window of the cottage, with frosted glass in it, which looked out on to the dining room.

It was never claustrophobic, even when, eventually, I moved a wardrobe in front of the "window" because the frosted glass wasn't frosted enough, and it felt weird that people could see into the bedroom.

But, I did get progressively more nervous about the lack of a fire escape route other than the door.

I know someone who lives in a ground floor conversion with one corner of the living room walked off with a door but otherwise walls all round, for the bedroom. I would find it very airless and claustrophobic but she doesnt mind it at all and I think it's ok legally.

As long as there's some actual daylight coming in I would have thought it'd be ok.

Thanks all - jury's still out...! It's so difficult to find somewhere to buy with a normal salary...