This may be the wrong forum so feel free to move it.
My ex has our child once a week overnight and once a month for 2 overnights.
He has rented out rooms and now wants to move the child into what was the walk in wardrobe off his bedroom.
It measures 1.8m x 1.9m.
Is there a legal minimum size for a bedroom?
Apologies for the late reply Ailbhe.
There may be two sources indicating what is acceptable in this case.
A) The first area of law is the Building Control Act and its attendant regulations.
The normally tell you how to build as opposed to what you can build but I note the following:
Under the Building Regulations Part F references are made in the Technical Guidance Document as follows:
http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/DevelopmentandHousing/BuildingStandards/FileDownLoad,1647,en.pdf
“habitable room” means a room in a dwelling
used for living or sleeping purposes but does not
include a kitchen having a floor area of less than 6.5
m2;
And also:
Habitable Rooms
1.5 In a habitable room other than a utility
room, a kitchen or a room containing a kitchen, the
following provision for ventilation should be
adequate:
(a) a ventilation opening suitable for background
ventilation having a total area not less than
6500 mm2, and
(b) a ventilation opening suitable for rapid
ventilation having a total area of at least 1/20th
of the floor area of the room.
And also
Where a kitchen or utility room has a floor area of
less than 6.5m2 and does not contain an openable
window or external door, e.g. an internal nonhabitable
room, provision of either c(i) or c(ii) above
should be adequate. However, if mechanical extract
ventilation is provided, it should include an automatic
15 minutes overrun, (after switch-off) or be
controlled by humidistat. Provision should also be
made for air supply to each room e.g. a 10 mm gap
under the door or equivalent.
Other comments are made in relation to ventilation via another room and ot a court q.v.
The area of 6.5sqm may be significant but so also may the ventilation provisions.
The fact that this will now be an inner habitable room also raises issues in relation to means of excape from fire under TGD B:
http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/DevelopmentandHousing/BuildingStandards/FileDownLoad,1640,en.pdf
General Provisions for Dwelling Houses
1.5.8 The following general provisions apply to
dwelling houses.
1.5.8.1 Inner rooms - An inner room is where the
access to that room is through another room. A
habitable room should not be an inner room unless
it is located at basement, ground or first storey and
is provided with a window or door suitable for
escape or rescue in accordance with the provisions
of 1.5.6.
1.5.8.2 Windows for escape or rescue -
Windows may provide an alternative means of
escape or may be used for rescue purposes in
dwelling houses. Guidance in relation to such
windows is given in Paragraph 1.5.6. There are
specific situations, e.g. as described in Paragraphs
1.5.2, 1.5.3 and 1.5.7.6, where windows in dwelling
houses should comply with the guidance given in
Paragraph 1.5.6 in this regard.
As a general provision, in addition to the specific
situations referred to above, all bedrooms in
dwelling houses, other than bedrooms with doors
that give direct access to the outside at ground level,
should comply with the provisions outlined in
Paragraph 1.5.6.
And S 1.5.6 says:
Windows for Escape or Rescue
1.5.6 Windows may provide an alternative means
of escape or may be used for rescue purposes in
dwelling houses of limited height. As an alternative, a
door which gives direct access to a balcony or roof,
which is suitable for rescue by ladder or for escape
may be used. Where provision is made in this subsection
for windows for these purposes (see
paragraphs 1.5.2, 1.5.3, 1.5.7.6 and 1.5.8.2), such
windows should comply with the following:
(a) The window should have an openable section
which can provide an unobstructed clear open
area of at least 0.33 m2 with a minimum width
and height of 450 mm (the route through the
window may be at an angle rather than straight
through). The opening section should be capable
of remaining in the position which provides this
minimum clear open area.
(b) The bottom of the window opening should be
not more than 1100 mm and not less than 800
mm (600 mm in the case of a rooflight) above the
floor, immediately inside or beneath the window
or rooflight. As an exception to the general
guidance in TGD K (Stairways, Ladders, Ramps
and Guards) that guarding be provided for any
window, the cill of which is less than 800 mm in
height above floor level, guarding should not be
provided to a rooflight opening provided in
compliance with this paragraph.
(c) In the case of a dormer window or rooflight, the
distance from the eaves to the bottom of the
opening section of the rooflight, or, where the
window is vertical, the vertical plane of the
window, should not exceed 1.7 m measured
along the slope of the roof.
(d) The area beneath the window externally should
be such as to make escape or rescue practicable.
For example,
(i) where there is a clear drop from a window in
an upper storey or attic conversion, the
ground beneath the window should be
suitable for supporting a ladder safely and be
accessible for rescue by the fire services or
others.
(ii) Where there is a roof, balcony or canopy
below a window, it should be structurally
adequate to support those using the window
for escape or rescue.
(e) The opening section of the window should be
secured by means of fastenings which are readily
openable from the inside and should be fitted
with safety restrictors. Safety restrictors can be
either an integral part of the window operating
gear or separate items of hardware which can be
fitted to a window at the time of manufacture or
at installation. Restrictors should operate so that
they limit the initial movement of an opening
section to not more than 100 mm. Lockable
handles or restrictors, which can only be
released by removable keys or other tools,
should not be fitted to window opening sections.
As you can see its not just a simple matter to make a wardrobe into a habitable room, never mind a bedroom.
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B) The second area of law is the Planning and Development legislation.
Under the law, the local authority has the right to make provision for development standards in development plans.
Development Plans set the terms of reference for five year periods defining what you can build as opposed to how to build it.
Apartment sizes, room sizes, room heights and so on all may be defined under the development plan requirements and the plan for your are might yield some useful information.
For example the Dublin City Development Plan at:
[broken link removed]
Par 15.9.3 requires 6.5 sq.m. for a single bedroom.
I suspect most other development plans would require this also.
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Another issue also arises under the planning law - changing a wardrobe accessed off a bedroom space into a bedroom.
Normally accessing a bedroom through another room only occurs via a lounge, kitchen or dining space - not through another bedroom.
Bedrooms are private places and while in olden days familes all lived in one room and learn their sex education by watching and listening - that's not on these days.
I think it is inappropriate for a young girl to be deliberately placed in a situation where she becomes more likely to find her father engaged in sexual intercourse at some point.
Such interruptions may occur in relationships where children live in houses with separately accessed bedrooms, but the intended location requires access via the father's room on every occassion.
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This raises issues of increasing the number of bedspace in the house and whether this requires permission or is covered under Section 4(1)(h) of the Act.
Bedspaces may be used as generators of residential density and car space requirements in development plans and this should be checked.
The proposed use, however inappropriate for other reasons is for an occasional sleepover and might not be seen as permanent.
From the father's point of view, the local authority and possibly would probably not want to be seen as draconian.
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Finally as your daughter is becoming older it may be deemed to be inappropriate for her to be sleeping in the same bed as her father.
Certainly it creates a dependency which can be cloying from the adult point of view and may restrict the emotional development of the child.
The preferred situation is for the child to sleep separately, even if this means sleeping on a sofa-bed in the living room, which could be an "adventure".
Our own son recently had a much-vaunted sleepover at his grannies with his cousins at Christmas and they chose to sleep on the sofas and had great crack.
I trust this is of some use.
ONQ.