Egress Requirements on 1940’s Up-down Duplex

[Matthew Kimber]

I recently purchased an up-down duplex that was built in the 1940’s in Utah. My plan is to house hack by living upstairs with my family and rent the basement apartment out. However, the windows in the basement are the small type, maybe 2 x 1.5 ft...not sure on the actual size. Anyway, do I have to replace those with larger windows or can I leave them as is?

[David Edwards]

I'd check and see what the local jurisdiction requires, those windows sound too small for egress and depending on the placement of the windows you might be in a new window well situation to provide what would be the minimum acceptable egress. 

That said, if the building was previously permitted and the jurisdiction was ok with it you might "technically" not have to change anything but a lot of jurisdictions will do rental housing inspections to ensure that these sorts of things aren't being overlooked. 

My opinion as an architect, regardless of the jurisdictions requirements, would be that you should have all sleeping areas in the basement unit equipped with some form of egress for basic life safety. Not worth saving a few grand if someone dies in your house during a fire one night.