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NYC zoning laws detail every little thing about the houses and buildings we live and work in. One of the more interesting zoning details, to me, is what a room needs to have in order to be called a bedroom.
For a room to be a legal bedroom in a listing, it has to [1] meet certain size requirements, depending on local zoning laws and [2] have a window that overlooks a street or a courtyard. A window in a building wall that is set on a side lot line is not a legal window, and such a room cannot be called a bedroom.
A room with a non-legal window or no window at all can be called a home office, a study, or a walk-in closet and it can be added to the total room count of an apartment.
The law only limits how landlords can advertise their apartments. But once you move into an apartment, you’re not limited by anything and you can use any room you want as the bedroom, including a room without a window.
If you see a listing on the RDNY.com database for, say, a studio with 2 home offices, that means the apartment has 2 rooms that the landlord cannot call bedrooms but which can be used as bedrooms if you wanted to. Such a listing might be the functional equivalent of a 2-bedroom apartment and could be worth a visit.
UPDATE: The flag on the door is Nepal’s.
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