No Fire Exit at rear.

Sofa_King Good

I have a bottom floor apartment in a large house. Was just reading the thread about mould and it got me thinking., firstly that there is no window at all in my bathroom or any other source of natural light or gor that matter in the kitchen, which is a small one underneath the main stairs.

Of more concern to me. The bedroom which leads to the back garden is blocked up by steel bars lodged into concrete, nobodys getting in and nobody is ever getting out. The only possible exits are the front window, which is the front window of the house and behind that the apartment door in the living room also. So in a fire to escape I would have to pass through my bedroom door to reach the apartment door. But if this was blocked I'd probably die a horrible death.

Sorry for rambling, but is this legal?

The_Conductor

Most of it is perfectly legal.
You do not need to have a window in a bathroom or a kitchen (they do (both)have to meet other criteria, but lack of windows is perfectly acceptable). You would need a window in a bedroom however (for it to be legally described as a bedroom).

You do have to have reasonable means to exit the property in the case of a fire. Windows with Iron bars, or windows which only open 6-9 inches are very common, and providing an alternate exit exists, unlikely to cause a problem with building regulations.

As your apartment is a ground floor apartment- providing access is provided both at front and rear, to the best of my knowledge, they have satisfied the regulations.

Not every window, or door, has to accessible in the event of a fire- its more an entrance/exit at both front and rear of the property (depending on the nature of the property- in some cases, this doesn't even apply).

Sofa_King Good

Thank you, Maybe i Should have made myself clearer. There is no possible way of exiting from the rear. No doors and no means of passing through the window.

if there was to be a fire anywhere else in the apartment, or the house for that matter and I was asleep in bed. And awoke to find the bedroom door blocked due to fire and some other obstacle I would be trapped.