{"id":19573,"date":"2024-07-09T04:11:14","date_gmt":"2024-07-09T11:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/?p=19573"},"modified":"2026-04-01T13:58:45","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T20:58:45","slug":"legal-definition-of-a-bedroom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/legal-definition-of-a-bedroom\/","title":{"rendered":"How Many Bedrooms In Your Home Can You Legally Advertise?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Robin and her family were finally ready to buy their dream house: a four-bedroom colonial in a quaint Wisconsin town.<\/p>\n<p>The showing was going great, with the first three bedrooms hitting everything on their checklist. A glance at bedroom number four was all they needed to know that they were touring their future home \u2014 and there were just two doors left to go.<\/p>\n<p>Behind door number one: a closet. Door number two: another closet! Where in the world was bedroom number four?<\/p>\n<p>Down in the basement, they found it. A small, windowless room that happened to have a built-in closet. This was a bedroom?<\/p>\n<p>That was no fourth bedroom according to Robin and her family. But to the home sellers and their listing agent, the space qualified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"geo-cta widget-cta widget-cta--content     widget-cta--light widget-cta--white\">\n    <div class=\"widget-element--content\">\n        <div class=\"widget-element--content-header\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"homelight logo\" class=\"widget-element--logo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/themes\/ccprototypev5\/images\/img-cta-logo-white.png\" width=\"106\" height=\"25\" \/>\n        <\/div>\n        \n                <h3 class=\"cta-headline widget--bold\">Get a Home Value Estimate Before You Sell Your Home<\/h3>\n                        <p>How much is your home already worth? HomeLight can provide you with a preliminary estimate in preparation of selling.<\/p>\n        \n                <div class=\"widget-element--buttons\">\n            <a data-type=\"In Content CTA\" href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/simple-home-value\/quiz?#\/qaas=0\/\" class=\"cta-click-track widget-element--button\">Get Estimate <\/a>\n        <\/div>\n                    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>So who was right? Let\u2019s find out as we answer the top seven questions when it comes to counting the bedrooms in your home.<\/p>\n<div id=\"section--1\" data-toc-header=\"What is the legal definition of a bedroom for real estate listings?\" data-toc-type=\"head\"><\/div>\n<h2>What is the legal definition of a bedroom for real estate listings?<\/h2>\n<p>The legal definition of a bedroom depends on where you live. This is because <a href=\"https:\/\/ibhs.org\/public-policy\/building-codes-by-state\/\">building codes vary state by state<\/a>, and it\u2019s these building codes that determine what elements a room must have in order to be legally called a bedroom.<\/p>\n<p>Some states have square footage requirements. In Texas, there is no single definition of a bedroom. In 2021, they adopted The International Residential Code (IRC) published by the International Code Council, which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mymetrotex.com\/makes-room-bedroom\/\">defines a bedroom<\/a> to have the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">A floor area of not less than 70 square feet and not less than 7 feet in any horizontal dimension<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">A minimum ceiling height of 7 feet, and if there is a sloped ceiling, then a minimum of 50% of the ceiling must be a minimum of 7 feet high<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">At least one operable emergency escape and rescue opening with a clear opening of not less than 5.7 square feet, and a required egress window that must have a minimum width of 20 inches, a minimum height of 24 inches, and a maximum window sill height of 44 inches.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Colder northern states, like Connecticut, <a href=\"https:\/\/codes.iccsafe.org\/content\/IRC2015\/chapter-3-building-planning#IRC2015_Pt03_Ch03_SecR303\">require bedrooms to have a heat source<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Other states have requirements that you\u2019d probably never even think to ask when settling on the bedroom count for your MLS listing. Take Massachusetts, which says that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maxrealestateexposure.com\/legal-requirement-for-bedroom\/\">you cannot claim to have more bedrooms than your septic system is designed to handle<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In some areas, bedroom requirements differ depending on where the room is located in the house. For example, Robin\u2019s sellers were out of luck with their basement \u201cbedroom,\u201d because according to Wisconsin\u2019s Department of Commerce, <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.legis.wisconsin.gov\/code\/admin_code\/dhs\/030\/83\/x\/56\">basement bedrooms must have at least 2 means of exiting<\/a> that provide unobstructed egress to the outside or grade level. Windows in the basement shall not be considered exits.<\/p>\n<p>Stil, other states are much less stringent on a room\u2019s must-haves in order to qualify as a bedroom:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn Alabama, all it has to have is a closet and a window,\u201d says Huntsville, Alabama agent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/agents\/susan-chipman-al-101393\">Susan Chipman<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div id=\"section--2\" data-toc-header=\"Where can you find local bedroom zoning codes?\" data-toc-type=\"head\"><\/div>\n<h2>Where can you find local bedroom zoning codes?<\/h2>\n<p>The best place to find the bedroom zoning codes is by taking a look through the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.buildingsguide.com\/blog\/resources-building-codes-state\/\">building codes for your state<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>However, it\u2019s not always the state that\u2019s in charge of defining what constitutes a bedroom. At the state level (as is the case in Alabama), there may be relatively few requirements, but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/first-amendment\/article\/28\/zoning-laws\">most local municipalities have their own zoning regulations<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This means that, while one city or county may only require that a bedroom have a window and a closet, another county in the same state may regulate bedrooms by square footage, or even distance to the nearest bathroom.<\/p>\n<p>Find the local zoning laws that apply to your house by doing an easy internet search using the keyword zoning, plus your county and\/or town name. Then it\u2019s just a matter of searching through all the zoning laws for the ones that apply to bedrooms.<\/p>\n<p>You can also ask your real estate agent whether or not a particular room qualifies as a bedroom. They might already know, and if they\u2019re not sure, they can tell you who to contact to get the right information in your area:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen sellers ask about verifying whether or not a space qualifies as a bedroom, I give them the number to call our local real estate board,\u201d advises Chipman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What\u2019s the legal definition of a bedroom? Find out the truth about requirements for closets, square footage, and windows \u2014 and where to find the rules for your city.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":45492,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[320,233],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-add-value","category-preparing-to-sell"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.0 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why the Legal Definition of a Bedroom Isn\u2019t What You Think<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What\u2019s the legal definition of a bedroom? 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