Don’t worry, this is not a tax deduction discussion related to whether you can expense your bedroom as a home office as far as the IRS is concerned. Instead of asking whether a bedroom can count as a home office, we want to know whether a home office can count as a bedroom!
As discussed in yesterday’s post, we are strictly enforcing our flex advertising policy to ensure trust and transparency for all customers searching for apartments for rent. A home office is an alcove or enclosed area or room, but does not qualify as a true bedroom because it does not meet the two basic requirements: a minimum width and length for a bedroom, and a window to natural light.
*Example of a Broker Blast aka Landlord Sheet. Even though the landlord notes which units can be flexed, they still officially show only the original, true bedroom counts
Take a look from today’s broker blast from TF Cornerstone, describing available units at well-known 45 Wall Street. Many studios have a home office alcove, allowing the living room to be double flexed into a flex-2. In the most extreme case, there is somehow one unit that contains 3 home offices, AND 2 walk-in closets… but it is technically still a large studio that can be flexed into 5!
At RentHop, we require agents and landlords to list the true, original bedroom count. We will allow flexing at most 2 bedrooms, so a studio can become a Flex 2, or a 1 bedroom can become a Flex 3 (no studio Flex-5’s for now).
