Basement Bedroom Rental Question

[Clayton Barnes]

What is required for a bedroom in a basement to be legal to be rented in Bloomington Indiana?

The room is 11x12 with a closet.

I'm pretty sure the room couldn't be considered a bedroom for rental purposes as it doesn't have a window, but someone was giving me conflicting information.

[Nathan Gesner]

An egress window is a window large enough and low enough that someone could safely escape in the case of fire or other disaster. In the old days, basements had very small window that were up high and impossible to escape from. New code requires the windows to be much larger and generally no more than 36" off the floor so even a child could escape them.

Designs vary greatly but here's an idea of what they look like:

Some egress windows are completely below ground while others may only be part-way below ground level. I've seen properties with 12' ceilings in their basement (very nice!) so the top of the window is nearly 6' below ground! That naturally requires a ladder to crawl out of the window well.

it's also nice to have a cover over the window well. This keeps debris from blowing in and - if built strong enough - from people falling inside.