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Comment by Roedou | Hacker News Reader

From the perspective of a non-NYC resident, this is terrible.

I had understood that bedrooms in the USA had to have a closet and a window/external door. Is that not the case?

At least here in the Midwest, yes a bedroom must have a window. For example if you want to finish a basement so you can say your house has an additional bedroom, I believe you need to add/finish a basement window-well.

I'm a recent NYC transplant. In past places I've lived (VA, DC, MN) it's definitely the law that a bedroom must have an egress window — not just a window, but one that opens and is large enough you could exit through it in case of a fire.

In New York, either that isn't the law, or it just gets violated a lot more often. Since moving here I've seen a surprising number of places where the bedroom has no windows.

However, there is definitely no requirement (in any state I've lived in) for a bedroom to have a closet. Some do, many don't.

>>>In New York, either that isn't the law, or it just gets violated a lot more often.

That. The city is infested with illegal apartments that would never pass fire inspections.

A bedroom is where your bed is. I've never rented a place with closets, so I think that's pretty common -- especially in older buildings.

I guess it's different for renting purposes. But when selling a house (at least in MA) there are rules as to what makes a room a bedroom. I think they do need to have closets. And there's a minimum bathroom : bedroom ratio that needs to be maintained.

It usually isn't legal to rent a 'bedroom' without an exit window. The NYC rental market is underregulated, overregulated, and corrupt. This page demonstrates this well.

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