Do bedrooms always have to have independent access?

[lboogy]

Question for you guys.

Looking at houses I'm seeing some that say 4-5 bedrooms and when you look at the floor plan you can see the bedroom doesn't have independent access.

In this scenario it would appear to give independent access the stairs would have to be moved to the middle of the house .

What do you guys think ?

I think in order to be classed as a bedroom it does yes otherwise it's always classed as half a bedroom. We have one and we still caused us no end of problems. Everytime we remortgage the surveyor downgrades the valuation from a 4 bed to a 3 bed. Even though the 4th bedroom is huge it has no independent access (you have to walk through the 3rd bedroom to get there) It's gotten on my nerves so much we're now going to put in a small stud wall to create a mini corridor (chopping off a bit of bedroom 3) but at least it gives it independent access

Lots of Victorian houses have access to the next floor via the bedroom.
We had one. They are bedrooms full stop.
Building regs and requirements didn't apply then.
Building regs change and what is required now doesn't invalidate previous builds reg or lack of regs. Same as firedoors. Some older builds don't have them as a requirement.
If the house was built with the correct requirements at the time, they are still bedrooms even if requirements have moved on.

They don’t have to, unless they’re newly built and layout doesn’t meet building regs. But most people want them to for practical reasons, which affects resale. If I were buying a larger house like this it wouldn’t bother me because I’d be using the room as a gym or a library or snug. But it’s a pain if you have go traipse through a room where someone else actually sleeps to get to another.

We had this. We had the main bedroom and DDs had the “walk through” bedroom as a nursery when they were babies. We later converted it to a dressing room. After we built an extension with a bigger main bedroom and better en suite, storage etc, we have knocked the wall down between the walk through bedroom and the second bedroom and made it one big room. It’s fantastic but we have 5 beds bern now this is a single room. It’s fantastic though and looks so much bigger. It has a storage area and relaxing space. The better use of windows make it feel light too. Amalgamating the rooms has improved this house. One fantastic room is better than two average ones where you have a walk through one.

I looked at a very old house once with a view to buy and it had access from the landing to a bedroom and the three other bedrooms were all off each other through the house with no independent access. I decided it was impractical for any guests or children so didn’t buy. It was a lovely house though ( the “doorway” to the first room was actually studding and I had to duck to enter and I am 5’ 2”!).

So despite it being classed as a bedroom you guys wouldn't buy it?
This house plan is one I was looking it. It appears that you'd either have to move the stairs or cut the bedrooms a bit to get to the other rooms which aren't big enough to justify the effort in my opinion

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I'd have to be able to make the adjustments within my budget and that it would then flow properly. And the house would have to be amazing to make the hassle worthwhile. If it puts others off you may get a good deal though.

A bedroom through a bedroom only works in exceptional circumstances. Eg as a nursery when kids are tiny or as a dressing room. Once kids are older then independent access to the rooms are more necessary. Nobody wants to be walking through a teens bedroom every time they want to go to bed or have a teen walkthrough theirs. Same with guests.
It will affect the resale value as if I’m looking for 4 beds I would automatically discount any that didn’t have all 4 with independent access as I need those 4 beds for a reason. If I saw a 5 bed with 1 bedroom through another and I knew I could use the walk through as a study or dressing room then I would consider it but not if it was priced as a 5 bed, only if it was priced as a 4 bed.
Another main reason for me would be fire. If the walkthrough bedroom had a fire it would be impossible for the person in the other room to escape easily.

If the house was built with the correct requirements at the time, they are still bedrooms even if requirements have moved on

That's not how mortgage company's valuers see it, and for many people it is their opinion that counts.

If it was a 3 bedrooms house, where one of the rooms was off another, that would put me off. But in a 5 bed house it wouldn't put me off.
If I only needed 4 bedrooms, I would have the extra as a dressing room or study.
If I needed 5 beds and had 2 dc close in age I would probably give them the space to share - either 1 room each, or sharing 1 room with the other as a playroom.

Certainly not worth moving the stairs, I doubt you'd get the money back from that.

The old vicarage in my home village is massive. I'm going to take a guess at Georgian because it is beautifully symmetrical with those lovely rectangular windows. The first floor has four big square bedrooms, each with two windows.

But when I visited it, that was it. The stairs were at one end (delicious curved mahogany bannister) with the bathroom taken from what was presumably originally a large landing, then each bedroom led to the next with no corridor.

An old lady (daughter of the last vicar to live in the rectory) lived there then. After it was sold recently, the new people have added an orangery, so I can't believe they haven't also installed a corridor. Lovely gracious rooms, but such complete lack of privacy.

We have moved our stairs (for another reason) and if it’s a big expensive house, of course it’s worth it.

One other solution is to build an extension with a new landing leading to the bedrooms. We live in a very difficult area for planning and were not allowed the extension above ground floor, but an extension can incorporate a new landing.

We had 2 bedrooms joined together out of 6. However when we bought the house it was 2 out of 4 bedrooms. There wasn’t a shortage of buyers due to location and it was well priced. You needed vision though. We were able to do other extensions and add bedrooms which enabled us to make the linked bedrooms into one room.

If there are several bedrooms like this, you do need to consider extensions and changes to the layout before buying. Obviously consider cost. Back in the day, our mortgage company didn’t care two hoots.

If a house is listed it may well not be possible to change internal layout. This could even be why it is listed! Check that too. A Georgian rectory could well be listed.

We rented a house with one bedroom leading off another, and it was useful, as ds had the 2 rooms. One was his bedroom, and the other was his day cabin, so desk, books, computer, PS4 etc. It gave him some space when he was home from university for holidays, and when he moved back post MA. The house was built in 1774, but we think it had additions built on, although the brick work was so well done, you couldn't tell.

RICS states that there is no UK statutory definition of a bedroom, although if you use the Housing Act 1985 to classify a bedroom then it’s done on square footage, not on access or whether it has a window.