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I live in a 3-storey apartment building, and one of my neighbours downstairs actually has this. It's actually a bit of a sneaky marketing "hack" by the architec

by jw1224 8y ago

I live in a 3-storey apartment building, and one of my neighbours downstairs actually has this. It's actually a bit of a sneaky marketing "hack" by the architects. When the building was being designed a couple of years ago, they put a light tunnel in place running down the vertical length of one side of the building. This took light from the penthouse's roof and channeled it down to the ground floor. By doing this, the architects could turn a 2-bedroom apartment into a 3-bedroom one. By law (at least in the UK), you cannot market a room as a bedroom unless it has natural light coming in. As my neighbour's apartment was surrounded on two sides by adjoining walls, this meant a room mid-way through the length of the building (and otherwise devoid of natural light) could be considered a bedroom, and marketed as such.

Spare_account 8y ago
> It's actually a bit of a sneaky marketing "hack" by the architects. > By doing this, the architects could turn a 2-bedroom apartment into a 3-bedroom one. By law (at least in the UK), you cannot market a room as a bedroom unless it has natural light coming in. This doesn't sound right to me, so I checked and the best I can come up with is this, from the building regulations: https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200130/common_projects/5/basements/2 https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200130/common_projects... There is reference to fire escape/egress and to ventilation but nothing about natural light. I don't think there is any requirement to have natural light for a room to be defined as a bedroom. The subject of what a bedroom actually is appears to be somewhat murky. The Building Regulations use terms like "habitable space" for most rooms within a house which I assume allows for the fact that one persons front room/lounge/living room might be another persons ground floor bedroom/granny annex/lodger's bedsit. There are some specific cases such as kitchens and bathrooms that don't tend to be as ambiguous, but I don't think there is a regulation that backs up your statement "By law (at least in the UK), you cannot market a room as a bedroom unless it has natural light coming in." http://www.rics.org/uk/knowledge/glossary/what-is-a-bedroom/ http://www.rics.org/uk/knowledge/glossary/what-is-a-bedroom/
- hrktb 8y ago
  I don't know for the UK, but there is a similar limitation in Japan. An habitation room must have a window, which meant our house was a 2 bedroom + 1 utility room, and not 3 bedrooms. I don't have the source of the requirement, just that it was specified in the contract, and we got an explanation as to why the third room was not deemed fit for habitation.
  - blincoln 8y ago
    My understanding is that it's because of what the GP cited - there needs to be an alternate way to escape the room in the event of a fire/flood/etc. A friend of a friend drowned because they were asleep in a "bedroom" which was a room in a lower level without a window.

by jw1224 8y ago

Spare_account 8y ago

> It's actually a bit of a sneaky marketing "hack" by the architects. > By doing this, the architects could turn a 2-bedroom apartment into a 3-bedroom one. By law (at least in the UK), you cannot market a room as a bedroom unless it has natural light coming in. This doesn't sound right to me, so I checked and the best I can come up with is this, from the building regulations: https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200130/common_projects/5/basements/2 https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200130/common_projects... There is reference to fire escape/egress and to ventilation but nothing about natural light. I don't think there is any requirement to have natural light for a room to be defined as a bedroom. The subject of what a bedroom actually is appears to be somewhat murky. The Building Regulations use terms like "habitable space" for most rooms within a house which I assume allows for the fact that one persons front room/lounge/living room might be another persons ground floor bedroom/granny annex/lodger's bedsit. There are some specific cases such as kitchens and bathrooms that don't tend to be as ambiguous, but I don't think there is a regulation that backs up your statement "By law (at least in the UK), you cannot market a room as a bedroom unless it has natural light coming in." http://www.rics.org/uk/knowledge/glossary/what-is-a-bedroom/ http://www.rics.org/uk/knowledge/glossary/what-is-a-bedroom/

hrktb 8y ago
I don't know for the UK, but there is a similar limitation in Japan. An habitation room must have a window, which meant our house was a 2 bedroom + 1 utility room, and not 3 bedrooms. I don't have the source of the requirement, just that it was specified in the contract, and we got an explanation as to why the third room was not deemed fit for habitation.
- blincoln 8y ago
  My understanding is that it's because of what the GP cited - there needs to be an alternate way to escape the room in the event of a fire/flood/etc. A friend of a friend drowned because they were asleep in a "bedroom" which was a room in a lower level without a window.