I'm a recent NYC transplant. In past places I've lived (VA, DC, MN) it's definitely the law that a bedroom must have an egress window — not just a window, but one that opens and is large enough you could exit through it in case of a fire.
In New York, either that isn't the law, or it just gets violated a lot more often. Since moving here I've seen a surprising number of places where the bedroom has no windows.
However, there is definitely no requirement (in any state I've lived in) for a bedroom to have a closet. Some do, many don't.
NYC has a law that for a room to be legally called a bedroom, it must have a window that's not on a lot line. I can't believe California doesn't have a law like that.
> In the United States, a room must have a closet to be considered a bedroom.
Source? I can't find any that confirm that using actual codes (at least on a national scale), and many (from sellers and lenders, no less) that rebut it [0][1], nor do I see it in the FHA housing policy handbook [2, PDF]. It's possible that real estate businesses customarily don't let you market bedrooms without closets, but that's not regulation.
These are rooms to sleep in. If you think these are that bad, try visiting a real slum. It's first world privilege to consider a small clean room in New York City a horrible place.
In continental Europe, where armoires are a thing, I actually can’t remember living in any home that had a closet in any room with a bed, so I can’t see closet being in the definition of bedroom.
In a certain US jurisdiction I have a room with a bed in it I can call a “nanny’s room” but I cannot call a bedroom on a real estate listing, as the closet for that room is through another door in a sort of hall.
In Europe though, where armoires are a thing, and I actually can’t remember living in any home that had a closet in any room with a bed, I don’t see closet being in the definition.
A bedroom may be required to have a window (and a closet), but an office, dining room, or "bonus" room doesn't. Thus you have apartments or houses, where people sleep in offices, dining rooms, etc. Legislating this just causes people to work around it.
My son lives in a "junior suite" - basically a classic end-windowed studio, but with a wall blocking the bed from the living area. Worst of both worlds.
> Most Americans have spare bedrooms for when guests visit.
No, they don't. Some Americans do, but it's a minority; most that have a room that loosely serves this purpose have another non-bedroom function for the room that is not significantly impaired by occasional use as a guest bedroom, and a large number, probably a majority, have no guest bedroom at all, putting guests up on a couch (possibly convertible, but maybe not) or temporary cot, etc. in a common room (or displacing a resident, likely a child, to such an arrangement to free up a bed) when hosting overnight guests.
I would love this. I've never understood why humans waste square footage on large bedrooms. Seriously, I could sleep in a closet and be perfectly happy.
i don't like to sleep in a room without windows. i like to see the night sky or signs of life outside my room, and most importantly i hate waking up in the dark. i would switch universities or sue if forced to accept a windowless room.
I had understood that bedrooms in the USA had to have a closet and a window/external door. Is that not the case?
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