Does a room need to have closet to be considered a bedroom?

[Juan Mendoza]

2 years ago I purchased a 3 bedroom and 2 bathroom property. I remodeled the kitchen and in the process removed one of the bedroom's closet because it was sticking out intto the kitchen. Im about to get it appraised for refinancing. Would that bedroom with no closet be still considered a bedroom?

[Christopher Phillips]

Juan Mendoza

International standards, Fannie Mae, FHA make no mention or requirement for a closet. It's a bit of a myth. Many older homes were built without closets.

From appraisal today:

"The Code refers to "habitable rooms" not bedrooms

The essence of the 2015 International Residential Code is that the code does not specifically use the term bedroom, but refers to all habit- able areas of a home. However, in Code # R310.1, at least one opening must open to the outside. Therefore, it can be said that for each sleeping room, there must be two emergency escape and rescue opening.

A bedroom ceiling needs to be at least 7 ft. tall. It's okay if some por- tions of ceiling are below this level, but at least 50% of the ceiling needs to be a minimum of 7 ft. in height. Most ceilings tend to be at least 8 ft. tall, so ceiling height is not usually an issue (R305.1).

Lastly, the room should be at least 70 sq. Ft., and more specifically the room cannot be smaller than 7 feet in any horizontal direction. (R304.2 / R304.4).

The Closet Myth

Many believe that a closet defines a bedroom. In short, the market defines a bedroom as well as other considerations listed above.

As a practical matter a bedroom should probably have a closet since most buyers expect one, but techni- cally the International Residential Code does NOT mandate a bedroom to have a closet. So the lack of a clos- et does not necessarily mean a room cannot be a bedroom.

However, as Fannie Mae makes clear, the appraiser must consider what is expected in the local market, and what is required by the local city/county."