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So when I signed the lease for a room in a 5 bedroom house I was not able to view it but my roomates and the landlady both stated it was 5 bedroom. I looked at a listing online by the vacation rental company and this too said 5 bedrooms. When I moved in a few months later I discovered it was not 5, but 4 bedrooms and a smaller dining area with a bed in it. I ended up moving in because the roomates agreed to switch rooms halfway through(i do NOT have this in writing).
Now that it is halfway and no one is willing to switch, what rights do I have to leave? This house/room was misrepresented to me, is this voided because I moved in? Living in this "room", my well being has suffered due to no privacy or quiet because 2 of the roomates have to walk through to get to their rooms.
Subleasing is an option but in reality no one in their right mind would choose to live there knowing the conditions. I have been looking for people willing to sublease for over a month and have found no one.
If I move out will I have to pay rent till the end of the lease?
What are the state regs regarding what legally defines a "bedroom" in your state? In some I think you have to have a closet, which a dining room would not necessarily have.
Another example of why renting sight unseen is NEVER a good idea.
This is in San Diego, and I found in California Code of Ordinances:
""Bedroom" means any habitable room, space, or area of a dwelling unit or accessory structure which is seventy square feet or greater in size and which is located along an exterior wall, but not including the following: hall, bathroom, kitchen, dining room...etc"
The bed is placed in the dining space of a kitchenette, which is along a hall so the two roomates who live downstairs must walk along my bed to get to their rooms. Is the part in the definition above about "...not including the following: hall..." talking about this?
There is a closet on the opposite side of the hall that is designated as mine.
yes they do. I feel like that should be in violation of building or housing codes in California. But I have not found anything yet.
also i found this statement in San Diego building codes: Buildings or portions thereof occupied for living, sleeping, cooking, or dining purposes which were not designed or intended to be used for such occupancies.
This is in San Diego, and I found in California Code of Ordinances:
""Bedroom" means any habitable room, space, or area of a dwelling unit or accessory structure which is seventy square feet or greater in size and which is located along an exterior wall, but not including the following: hall, bathroom, kitchen, dining room...etc"
The bed is placed in the dining space of a kitchenette, which is along a hall so the two roomates who live downstairs must walk along my bed to get to their rooms. Is the part in the definition above about "...not including the following: hall..." talking about this?
There is a closet on the opposite side of the hall that is designated as mine.
According to what I read above, you have reason to move. I'd be out of there today. And quote them the above regulations.
The best course would have been not accepting the unit...
Bedrooms in my area require a minimum of 10 square feet of window or 10% of the floor area with 5% opening for ventilation.
There are Grandfather Clauses depending on the codes in effect at the time the Certificate of Occupancy was issued.
It really your call... you can move and explain your side to the Judge and present supporting documentation if it comes to that. I think it would also help to show the agreement allows subletting.
You could go the rent reduction route and see if something agreeable can be worked out... maybe then you could get by with one less roommate?
It would not be a bad idea to get a copy of the building record... it may show number of bedrooms.
I had a sale with something similar... the tax assessor only listed my home as 1 bathroom and the appraiser had a problem since I had 2... It took a half day of sleuthing at the county and city to find the original records which indeed showed my home was built with 2 bathrooms. Apparantly, during the conversion to digital records my second bathroom was omitted... got it all taken care of only because I was able to go to the source.
In most definitions of a bedroom, one should have a closet, so many square feet, a window and a door, and the fact that it is not necessary to go thru that room to get to another room.
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