How do you count the number of rooms in a property in Switzerland?
The number of rooms is a crucial factor when you’re looking for a place to live. In most Swiss cantons, rooms are counted as follows: a room is an enclosed space used for sleeping or “general living” purposes. Bathrooms, toilets, laundry areas and kitchens are not usually counted as rooms.
But room counts may vary from one canton to another. So knowing how rooms are counted in the canton where you live or which you are considering moving to is really important.
And, to nail down the details, what counts as a room and what counts as a half-room? Let’s see how room counts vary in Switzerland’s main cantons.
What is the precise definition of a room?
In general, a property’s main rooms are the living room, bedroom, office and children’s room. The minimum space required for these living spaces is generally laid down in federal law based on the number of people per household. That said, there may be particularities in certain cantons.
Conversely, the bathroom, kitchen and laundry area are not included in the room count. The rationale for this is that these spaces are not intended as places to spend time and so are not considered as actual rooms.
The minimum amount of space required is also laid down in Swiss federal law based on the number of people in each household or in cantonal legislation.
That said, there are two notable exceptions to this approach for kitchens. When it is an open-plan space adjoining a living room, it may count as “half a room”.
The minimum height for a room generally lies between 1.80 m and 2.20 m.
It’s worth noting that a room with no external window cannot be counted, even if it is separated from another room by a glass wall or partition.
And so, what counts as a half-room ?
This label applies in certain cases to spaces that do not meet the criteria for being counted as an additional normal-sized room. They do not count as a full room under the SEL home evaluation system rules. A kitchen, a large entrance hall or a furnished corridor, a mini-living area or a small bedroom that falls short of the minimum standards set by the local authorities may all be considered as half-rooms.
The fact remains that there is no official definition of “half-room”. The apartment’s surface area and layout are the most important factors when it comes to working out its actual size. In some cases, for example, a “2.5-room apartment” may actually be smaller than a 2-room apartment.
To sum up, according to the SEL rules, additional areas such as an alcove, gallery, kitchen extension or separate dining area, hall or a corridor with a cloakroom all count as half-rooms.
Geneva canton : a kitchen counts as a room
In Geneva canton, almost the same rules apply to the room count as in most other Swiss cantons.
There is one major exception, however: the kitchen counts as a room. So a 5-room apartment in Geneva would most likely have a kitchen, a living room and three bedrooms.
In Geneva, the cantonal law on buildings and miscellaneous installations, which states that any “general living” room and any kitchen (other than a mini-kitchenette) must have a surface area of at least 9 m2 and meet a minimum size requirement of 6 m2 and also have a vertical opening to the outside for ventilation and lighting purposes. The opening’s dimensions are to be determined based on the implementing rules applicable to the relevant surface area. A living area that does not have any direct exposure to the outside may not be counted as a “living” room, even if it has a glass wall or partition leading to another room.
For example, a studio with a glass wall or partition between the bedroom and the combined kitchen-living room does not count as a two-room apartment under the law, unless this combined room opens directly to the outside.
Vaud canton : kitchens are not counted
Vaud canton has its own room size rules. A “general living” or sedentary work room must have a minimum of 20 m³ in space, or 15 m³ per occupant for bedrooms intended to accommodate more than one person.
Kitchens do not count as rooms the canton, and half-rooms are additional spaces that are larger than a corridor, but smaller than a full room.
To be more precise, the rules implementing the law on regional development and buildings lay down the concept of “general living” space in Vaud canton.
Fribourg, Neuchâtel and Valais cantons
In Fribourg canton, rooms are counted in a similar way to in most other Swiss cantons. “Attic” is a term commonly used there to describe an apartment on the top floor of a building, which may feature additional living spaces, such as a loft or a terrace.
Another particularity in Neuchâtel is that only bedrooms and the living room count as rooms for the official description. As a result, a 3-room apartment usually features two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen and a bathroom.
And, lastly, there are no general rules that apply right across the whole of Valais canton. Nonetheless, in a 4-room apartment, the kitchen and bathroom do not count as rooms.
German-speaking cantons Bern and Zurich
In the German-speaking cantons of Bern and Zurich, rooms are counted in a similar way to the approach taken in other Swiss cantons.
Conversely, in Zurich canton, rooms are counted in a similar manner to elsewhere in Switzerland, with one notable exception: spaces measuring less than 6 m2 do not count as rooms. Accordingly, even though a 5 m2 bedroom is an enclosed space and may be used for sleeping or “general living”, it cannot be counted as a room.
