by charli55 » Wed Oct 29, 2025 9:01 am
If you rent an apartment from AirBnB, your bedroom may be windowless
The bedroom of an AirBnB rental where the author stayed with his wife. The bedroom had no window.
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If you’re the owner of an older apartment building, how do you count the number of bedrooms in each apartment? Maybe you want to advertise that you have a three-bedroom apartment for rent—but one of the “bedrooms” is a windowless walk-in closet or pantry. Can you do that?
No, you can’t. According to Section R310 of the International Building Code (and most other building codes), every bedroom needs an operable window that can act as a second means of egress during an emergency—so landlords can’t count windowless rooms as bedrooms.
Egress window requirements
Here is a summary of IRC requirements for emergency egress windows:
At least one emergency egress window is required in any bedroom, any basement that has been turned into a habitable space, and any habitable attic.