Housing and Property, Housing | Forget the P-room: These are the new terms homebuyers need to understand

(Electronic newspaper): A few years ago, a new standard was introduced to indicate the size of dwellings: the primary room – known as the P-room.

The goal was to show the actual usable volume of dwellings.

But now there will be changes again: from the new year, Room P and Room S will disappear as descriptions, and instead the term “Area of Use” (BRA) will be introduced, with up to three subcategories.

– The purpose of the changes is to clarify what different land descriptions contain and reduce the possibility of misunderstanding, says Brid Dillingsby, senior advisor at DNB Eiendom Fag, in a press release.

These are the new outlines

I'm well	Usable indoor area	Internal use area (BRA-i) is the area within the perimeter walls. There is, for example, a living room, a bedroom, a kitchen, an entrance hall, a bathroom, an internal pantry and a room for communication between them. If a dwelling consists of a utility unit with multiple independent arc units, the independent arc units must be classified as BRA-i. An example of this could be a detached house with a separate rental unit.
Good-e	External use area	An external use area (BRA-e) is for example an external storage room, a basement living room with its own entrance, a guest room, an additional building or other rooms belonging to the arch unit but not directly connected to the internal area. Additional buildings could be, for example, a garage, a boathouse or an outhouse.
BRA-B	Glass balcony	Glass balcony (BRA-b) are balconies, balconies and glazed balconies belonging to the arc unit.
Overall good	Total usable space	The usable space is summarized above.

– According to the old measurement rules, for example, a storage room (S-room) could be defined by the appraiser as a P-room if it was equipped as a living room, even if this area was not registered for construction and was approved as something other than a storage room. Now this will instead be included in the BRA-i, regardless of whether it is used as a living room or not. Dillingsby believes this would be a simplification that would lead to fewer misconceptions.

According to DNB, the coverage of the new BRA-i in many residential areas will be larger than P-rooms, but may also be smaller.

– For example, a basement stove that you have to leave the house to use. There can also be a separate annex on the plot. These areas will now be referred to as BRA-e, i.e. External Use Area.

Three completely new styles

Furthermore, three brand new summaries appear:

– The first is TBA (balcony, balcony, balcony) and it depicts the size of the terraces, balconies and balconies attached to the dwelling. These areas, unlike the glass balcony, will not be included in the BRA-i, but will instead be referred to as TBA in the housing declaration, Dillingsby says.

– Another new term is ALH (Area Low Ceiling Height). This area is measured in the same way as the BRA, but when the ceiling height (ceiling height) is so low that the area cannot be referred to as a usable area. It could, for example, be a loft apartment where parts of the ceiling height are very low. Now the volume is better visible in such areas of the house than before.

To be determined later	Terrace and balcony area	Terrace and Balcony Area (TBA) is the area of terraces, balconies, verandas and open balconies attached to a dwelling.
ALH	Area with low ceiling height	Unmeasurable floor space due to sloping roof and low ceiling height. Low ceiling height (ALH) space is measured in the same way as a BRA, but ceiling height requirements should be ignored and space already included in the BRA should not be included in the ALH.
GUA	Floor space	BRA and ALH can be summarized and collectively referred to as floor area (GUA).