Does a Bedroom Need a Closet?
Our 2nd bedroom does not have a closet. I have heard conflicting answers as to whether a room needs a closet to be considered a bedroom when selling. I have also heard the answer can be different depending on the location/zoning in the area. Does anyone have a definitive answer as to whether I can…
Our 2nd bedroom does not have a closet. I have heard conflicting answers as to whether a room needs a closet to be considered a bedroom when selling. I have also heard the answer can be different depending on the location/zoning in the area. Does anyone have a definitive answer as to whether I can list my apt as a 2 bedroom if the 2nd room doesn’t have a built in closet? any realtors out there know the answer? Thanks in advance for your help.
Original poster here…. Thanks everyone for all your advice and responses. I didn’t expect such passion 🙂
The room in question is in a co-op apt within an early 20th century building so pre-dates any newer DOB code. It does not have a closet currently but (based on the responses above) I will likely build some form of simple closet or storage structure, both for my own storage needs and because it would make it a little more marketable when it comes time to sell, but not because it is required to be listed as a bedroom. A realtor friend also suggested I look at the original co-op documents to see if it was considered a 2nd bedroom when it went co-op and everything was filed. Thanks again.
To clarify again my previous post and Jock deoer as well:
1. The 2008 building code for an existing building is OPTIONAL
2. for an existing building the 1968 code or the 1938 code or the MDL applies.
3. There are some regulations on certain section that apply regardless but the sizes of windows and rooms does not. Therefore 2008 code is out unless you specifically want to do a renovation by 2008 code.
Under the 1938, 1968 code or MDL or HMC there is no requirement codewise for a closet. When creating new bedrooms with no closets and the examiner wanted a closet I would assume that there was an arrangement issue or light and air etc. for whatever reason but does not appear to have been something that is required by code. I don’t recall ever having an issue with being mendated to put in a closet in bedrooms especially in studio apartments. sorry if any misrepresentation.
Looks like I need to fall on the sword. Sorry Melissa! That is what I get for replying to a post when I should have been asleep. What I meant to say was that I have had DOB reviewers comment on plans that bedrooms need to have a closet. We pointed out that such rooms were existing and left it at that. When ever creating new Bedrooms in existing plan, we have always provided a closet. There is no such wording in the NYC BC that I can find that says it must have one. The poast was asking if there was a law in selling that a bedroom must have a closet. My house was built in 1935 and only one of the three bedrooms have a closet. I did not care. I do not believe that someone would walk away from a buy due to a closet.
Listen guys, if Jock DeBoer (first post responder), who is a very capable architect who works with the DOB all the friggin’ time, says it is a requirement of theirs, then it is almost certainly so.
Posted by: Nokilissa at February 4, 2010 10:51 AM
Almost doesnt count!
There is no requirement that a room have a closet to be a bedroom. It must have a minimum square footage, a minimum ceiling height, and a minimum area of window space (and that window space must be able to be used for egress).
No, there’s no requirement for a closet.
The actual code and citation: for the sake of new construction, the code establishes a minimum dimension for the new construction of a habitable room, and that is 8′ minimum width and minimum area of 100 sf. That’s for any habitable room, not just bedrooms. The relevant section governing this issue is in the mechanical code, subchapter 12 section 751.
But aside from the code itself, there’s some misunderstanding in a few of the above posts about how the code works/is applied. In traditional brownstone NYC, bedrooms usually predate any of this code and so the code requirements for new construction are for most purposes irrelevant. Bedrooms or habitable rooms built and legally defined prior to these code sections (they first show up in the 1968 code) can be any size. I’ve seen perfectly legal 6′ wide bedrooms. If the I-Card for the building defines a room as a bedroom then it is, period. Closet or not, smaller than a double bed or not.
wow,
so, technically speaking, I lived in a closet for my entire junior year of college.
memo to myself: Do NOT allow housing choice to be determined by a game of quarters.
Yep, you don’t need a closet to have a bedroom. I think the earlier commentors were well intended, but misguided. The story is that if DOB sees a closet in a room in an apartment, they will tend to see a bedroom and go looking for legal light and air ….although sometimes they don’t….even when they should.
If I’m not mistaken, don’t the changes in the Building Code only pertain to “new construction” either a new development or a renovation.
The Building Code cannot redefine non altered existing or grandfathered space.
You know the listing is going to say 2 bedrooms. There’s a window there now so whether or not there is a closet is merely a point to negotiate upon.