Misleading listings on rightmove

[Upsidedownsides]

There seems to be a new estate agent trick when listing properties, to take dining rooms and extra living space and list them as bedrooms to try and improve a properties chances against the filters. So as long as the property has a living room and kitchen every thing else is listed as a bedroom, even when it quite obviously isn’t.

I dont know why RM allows it. It’s such a waste of time, you click on a property and it is just so unsuitable. This one for example is listed as 4 beds, it’s barely 3!! You could only get a single bed in the third bedroom and wouldn’t be able to get any storage in.

More Like two beds given needs for each room to take a double bed (or single and wardrobe + chest of drawers). I guess if you wanted downstairs bedroom - instead of dining room, as in, for a disabled person? ... but then I would be looking for suitable downstairs room and shower etc., and mobility (doors) width for wheelchair etc.,

Sorry - floor plans. Obviously. The overall size can matter more than layout. Are you getting a decent sized house for your £ and can you make the layout work for your needs?

The other thing I've noticed is the absence of floor plans, necessitating a call to the EA who usually has no clue and a visit to clarify. It wastes my time.

Agree. I wanted 2 reception rooms minimum, plus a kitchen. The bulk of 2 bed houses I saw on RM had a living room and a diner/kitchen and it really used to wind me up that I couldn't filter by number of receptions rooms, AND kitchen.

Floor plans really bug me. We are looking for the max space possible, would love 4 bed but a large 3 would work.

can I look at total floor space and decide whether to view? No because when I add up the space listed in the room measurements it comes out as 20% smaller then the total space listed. Which is a breach of contract to advertise it incorrectly, apparently.

Most listings I’ve looked at have a floor plan. Missing dimensions often though!

My house is a 1930s house and the third bedroom is no bigger than that one. Everyone sees them as bedrooms though - just small ones. Standard single bed can fit in two different positions, plus a small wardrobe and chest of drawers. Many of us use them as an office, but ours was once a bedroom. I agree with your point about the dining room though - but I’ve not seen this in listings round here.

We have a downstairs bedroom that used to be an office. It’s brilliant for a teenager - she can come and go as she pleases via the back door, and when her noisy friends come over it doesn’t wake us up. Perfect!

My point on the third bedroom being small was more there are 2 compromises in this particular house. The fourth bedroom is actually the dining room relabelled, and the third bedroom is just a small single. They are both compromises and not what most people would be looking for as “bedrooms”, you may be able to make one work, but not both

Hah, that nursery bedroom is bigger than my 3rd bedroom! Mines 2m x 1.7m. it fits a single divan bed and a tall boy chest of drawers. It is like a prison cell.

I think the way it's described is perfectly legitimate. Bedroom 3 meets the size standard to be called a bedroom. Just because people prefer larger bedrooms doesn't mean it isn't one.

It has a kitchen, living room and the conservatory is off the kitchen to be used as a dining room. Many houses have one or two bedrooms downstairs and some upstairs. There's a full bathroom downstairs beside bedroom 4. Not all bedrooms have to be upstairs!

Yep. We always joke our 2.5 bed is actually a 5 bed because who needs a dining or living room?

@PinkElephants356you are wrong that is plenty big! Legal requirement is 70sq ft (6.5sqm) and that room is 82sqft (7.65sqm). Though my own house the advertised third ‘bedroom’ is actually less than 5sqm!
OP surely anyone can see what is a reception room pretending to be a bedroom. But as there’s a shower room next to that room in your example, it could do well to be a ground floor bedroom if needed. They have listed it as not, so I’d have no issue with it.

On the other hand, my DDs house has a HUGE attic space with a fixed staircase to it, which is one of the main bedrooms. But it can't be listed as a bedroom because it has no door to it, despite it being the whole roof space with two windows and plenty of room to stand upright in most of it. Her house was listed as a two bedroom with attic space - which is exactly the same as my house, which has an attic with a fixed staircase but where you can only stand upright under the actual ridge (and then only if you're under 5'6 tall).

In this case, the ground floor bedroom is obviously an extension. It was up to the vendors what it was used for. It’s ok to say it’s a bedroom if they built it as that. However a look at the plans and description always tells possible buyers about layout.

A loft conversion for a habitable space (eg bedroom) requires 2.2m in the centre. 1.9m on the staircase. The Federation of Master Builders has great advice. If spaces don’t comply, Agents should call them hobby space or similar. Sleeping in rooms with a sub standard staircase, no fire doors, poor insulation and probably no calcs for load bearing is not as safe as it should be.

Ours was similar. Listed as $ bed but not really, as the smallest bedroom ( alao described as a bed/study) opens into the hallway via a shower room, and not directly. I suspect that should not be described as a bedroom, as the exit is via another room.

The room posted by the op doesn’t exit via a shower room. That’s a pretty awful layout for any room. The plan posted shows a room with a direct hallway exit or into the conservatory. I feel this could have been an extension for an elderly or disabled person.

Rightmove listsings are awfully misleading. I approach them with the same mistrust as I would an ebay or Vinted item. Scrutenise the pictures, match it up with the sparce floorplans and look for the particulars on all the other websites that actually tell you more about the property (maps, flood zones, crime maps, etc etc)

Descriptions are usually wrong and don't beleive a word of their fluffy jargon. Its frustrating trawling through the list but I just cast the net open wide because its too easy to filter out something because an agent has decided a house has a feature when it doesn't.

Sorry this is an old thread but incase you’re still hunting, I would take the “noise” risk with a pinch of salt! Our property is listed as high noise due to nearby road but the street is very quiet. It’s still a really useful tool but make sure you visit the house for yourself before discounting it due to noise rating on area360.

Yes, I typically add that I leave these properties to the brave, stupid or well-informed. You'd fit the latter. And you can get bargains on that basis. However, I take the view that I can exclude all of those so I can focus on properties that won't present as red flags for a future buyer should I need to sell.

@Upsidedownsides that though would actually suit me, because as a 60 something couple with a business at home we want plenty of downstairs space but only really need 2 good bedrooms and ideally a storage room/tiny room too - not everyone looking at 3/4 bed houses has 2 or 3 kids at home .