SEVERAL ESTATE AGENTS have been warned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after property listings which stretched the definition of a bedroom were found to be potentially misleading.

Seven complaints against property listings have been upheld by the ASA since the start of 2024.

The complaints all relate to the number of bedrooms in the property that is for sale, with the listings described by the advertising watchdog as “having the potential to mislead customers”.

The ASA told estate agents that the property listings were not to reappear as advertised and to make sure future listings were accurate after complaints about them were upheld.

This is because there are strict rules on what constitutes a bedroom under planning rules, and those selling a house must make sure they aren’t inaccurately labelling rooms as bedrooms.

The rules stop any room from being called a bedroom just because it has a bed in it, something that may inflate the property’s value.

What actually is a bedroom?

For a room to be considered a bedroom, there are a number of criteria that must be met.

Firstly, there must be at least two points of exit. The door to the bedroom can count as one, alongside one other exit to outside the house, typically a window.

This means that any room without a window cannot be classified as a bedroom.

This rule came into play in the most recent complaint upheld by the ASA in May 2025.

The house being advertised was described as having “3 beds 1 bath”, and later as a “2/3 bedroom” property.

One of the bedrooms, however, did not have a window, only a skylight in the ceiling.

Responding to the complaint, the advertiser said that the original bedroom window had been blocked and this skylight was installed instead.

But to meet the definition of a bedroom, it can’t just be any window. It also has to meet certain criteria for it to be classed as a fire escape.

As the skylight could not be reached in the event of a fire, it wasn’t deemed a suitable exit point under the rules and so the room couldn’t be considered a bedroom.

A case from June 2024 found two of the bedrooms in a house advertised as a three-bed lacked the proper escape exits.

The advertisers told the ASA that they were not “trying to mislead anyone or misrepresent the property they were selling”.

They added that “there was such a high demand for property with a small supply of available properties in comparison that there was no benefit or need for them to deliberately mislead and that this was a genuine mistake.”

Nonetheless, the advertising watchdog considered the property listing to be misleading owing to the “absence of evidence to demonstrate that the rooms did conform to the planning requirements”.

Minimum floor area and ceiling height

As well as having enough windows and doors, bedrooms also have to meet minimum requirements for floor area and ceiling height.

The minimum floor area is 7.1 m², excluding any built-in storage space.

Another ruling from this year involved a listing for a “pristine 4-bedroom property”, where one of these ‘bedrooms’ was currently being used as a walk-in wardrobe.

This room was described as having a floor area of “2.66m x 2m”, which falls below the minimum requirement for a bedroom floor area.

When contacted about the complaint, the advertiser indicated that they would provide a response, but none was ever received by the ASA.

The watchdog said that, as no evidence to support the claims made in the listing had been received, it was deemed to be in breach of the advertising code and ruled it should not reappear.

A further complaint made about a property listing with an attic conversion labelled as a bedroom demonstrated the minimum ceiling height rules.

To be classified as a bedroom, a room must have a minimum ceiling height of 2.4m. Parts of the ceiling can be lower than this, but at least 50% of the room must reach this minimum height.

The advertisers “expressed surprise” at the complaint, adding that “no one had expressed concern to them at viewings of the property”.

They told the watchdog that “the ceiling height was over 2 meters [sic], which they believed was sufficient to call the room a bedroom.”

But when further information was requested by the ASA to clarify the actual ceiling height, “no further response was received from the advertiser.”

Because of this, the listing was deemed to be in breach of the advertising code and ordered to be removed.

The other two complaints upheld since the start of 2024 relate to properties that were originally built as three-bedroom houses, but at the time of listing, only two bedrooms were being used as such.

While the ad description in both clarified the change in layout, the ASA Complaints Committee ruled that because it was categorised as a three-bed, it had the potential to mislead customers.

The ads in both cases were ordered not to reappear in their current form and the Committee issued a reminder to advertisers that the initial description of a property should not be contradicted in the ad description.

The estate agent regulator – the Property Services Regulatory Authority (PSRA) – told The Journal that estate agents cannot knowingly produce or publish “misleading information” relating to property that is for sale or let.

They added that they have received two complaints made against estate agents since 2024 in relation to bedroom classification.

The first, a complaint relating to an attic conversion, was dismissed as “the licensed agent only became aware of this incorrect information following the vendor’s surveyor’s report” and didn’t knowingly produce a misleading advertisement.

The second complaint was investigated by the PSRA, but “no improper conduct was found”.

—

Conor O’Carroll is an investigative reporter with The Journal Investigates.

Our investigative unit is dedicated to lifting the lid on how Ireland works. This takes time and it takes resources. Find out how you can help: