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?

[Heather Skowronsky]

@Manolo D. You've got that right!  What a pain in the butt!

[Sam Shueh]

It needs to be permitted to be qualified as an extra bed room. Otherwise it is UNPERMITTED taking a note by the appraiser as added on W/o a permit. If you remove the structure beam it often is red tagged.

[Kevin Fox]

Hey @Juan Mendoza

The posters who are saying that the building code does not require a closet for a room to be considered a bedroom are correct. However, the MLS in San Diego as well as the appraisers I've worked with do.

You'll definitely want to check to see how the topic is addressed in the particular locale the property is in. 

[Juan Mendoza]

UPDATE: We built the closet and the day of the appraisal I asked the appraiser about the closet. She said a closet is needed for a room to be considered a bedroom in houses built after the 1920s. So it was a good decision to do the closet.

[Jason Willis]

Somebody above posted "Appraisal is not the same thing as legal."

Damn straight! FHA does not require a closet to be deemed a bedroom - but an appraiser will "call" it the way they want.

Appraisers make a defensible opinion. Good thread here because I have run into this issue. 

[Rosario Ingargiola]

Hello Juan, Im a licensee B, C15, C33 contractor in the Bay Area since 1976. If you google ca. building codes/ does a bedroom need to have a closet to be legal. the answer is NO!

Hovever other requirements need to be meat to be a legal bedroom.

1) ceiling hight min req.

2) egress

3) must be more the 70 sq.ft.