I live in a small town so the local officials aren't that experienced.
The landlord was likely told a dining room cannot have added walls to make it a fully enclosed bedroom, they interpreted that to mean you can't use it as a bedroom at all.
But, it would be legal to put bedroom furniture in there and maybe hang a curtain or put up some room dividers.
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dtstellwagen
To start with you have a logic issue, you can't prove a negative, you can only prove positives. You can't prove something doesn't exist, you have to ask somebody to prove what does exist. They can't write laws to say all the things that are legal, they write laws to define what is not.
It really not just a State issue, your local county/city can make many additional stupid laws, and the local authorities have the jurisdictional authority to enforce the laws they make and the laws written by the county and statewide law making authorities. The issue that needs to be addressed is if it is illegal to sleep in a dining room? Ask for what section of law prohibits sleeping in a dining room.
It's all in the definition, my living room is not legally bedroom, but there is no law prohibiting me from sleeping on the couch. Sleeping on the couch or murphy bed doesn't make it a bedroom. If it doesn't have a closet then it isn't a bedroom.
Don't say you are using it as a bedroom, that confuses the issue, you are merely sleeping in the dining room. Likely no law against that. They could say the dining room is not "habitable space", but if it has two egress routes, and a smoke detector without passing through a door then it is habitable.
Kiss Me Kate
you can use it as a bedroom-however a landlord can't rent it as another bedroom--in NY you have to have a closet-- but can I tell you how many will call a windowless, closetless room, a bedroom? If you are the tenant you can surely use it as a bedroom--but he can't bill you for an extra bedroom. my mom and grandma had this arrangement for over 40 yrs--soooooo I am sure you can do what you want with it. I think your landlord is taking it the wrong way---thinking a code enforcement officer will be knocking on his door.
redstapler52
You can legally sleep in any room you wish however building codes dictate what can and cannot be considered a bedroom. Last time I looked, near me bedrooms were required to have at least one outlet on each wall and a closet to be considered a bedroom. The size of your town doesn't determine how well versed the officials are in enforcing codes.
STEVEN F
NONE. In point of fact, there is NO legal definition of either a dinning room OR a bedroom.
?
That would be whatever county office that enforces building codes.