When to Call a Room a Bedroom for an Appraisal

Bedroom Regulations

• The specific requirements for building and counting bedrooms will vary depending on the neighborhood and state where the building takes place. Building codes are usually available online, listed by state, and may also be found by county or city. Look for the city website and an area labeled "residential codes" or something similar. These are the codes that must be followed when adding on or remodeling a home. Tax appraisal codes are similar to building codes but may have a few minor differences. According to multiple listing service requirements, the Realtor is responsible for disclosing the number of bedrooms in a home.

Building Codes

• As mentioned above, building codes will vary from state to state, but there are some features that these rules will almost always dictate. In most cities, bedrooms must have some kind of escape or rescue point, usually a window. Building codes will dictate the maximum and minimum height, minimum square footage and width of the window. Most cities will also require each bedroom to come equipped with its own smoke detector, which most often will require power from the wiring in the building. This need may also be applicable if adding onto an older home. Interestingly, in some codes, a closet may not be required to classify a room as a bedroom.

Tax Appraisal Codes

• Tax appraisal codes will almost always read identically to building codes but often will have a few differences. In some areas, a tax appraiser will consider a room a bedroom even if it lacks a smoke detector. Other requirements are temperature controls; usually tax appraisers will require heating to consider a room a bedroom and will almost always require that the room contain a closet. Though these are small differences, if a bedroom addition or remodel is planned, they are important inclusions. These requirements are most often applied to newly constructed homes or remodels. In the case of an older home, the appraiser will usually make the decision if one of these features isn't present.

Multiple Listing Service

• A multiple listing service (MLS) is associated with a Realtor, and most will have requirements similar to those of the tax appraisal codes. Realtor codes will require a closet and heating for a space to be considered a bedroom. This code is not something homeowners should follow unless they are installing an addition and want to ensure the new room counts as a bedroom. The Realtor will determine the number of bedrooms in a home.