Outbuildings and conservatories
A garage is now a bedroom and the only window is a small high light. Has a fire-escape test been carried out?
No. A fire-escape test has not been carried out. The garage is now a bedroom and the only window is a small high light, which the survey saw and did not test as a way out. It did not measure the opening against a regulation. The survey does not issue a building-regulations certificate. Using a former garage as a bedroom raises an escape question this visit has not answered. The high light is a description. It is not a passed test.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
Escape is about whether someone sleeping there can get out, and whether the opening can be used. A small light high in the wall may give daylight and still be no use as a way out. The survey will not invent a size it did not take, and it did not apply a pass standard. The room's garage origin also means approval papers may be missing. That is separate from the glass. Neither a test nor a certificate came out of this visit.
Ask the solicitor for building-regulations approval for the change from garage to bedroom. The survey has not issued that approval. If the paper is missing, the solicitor can discuss what the council would need. Do not tell a lender an escape test was passed. Judging the opening is a building-control question. It is not a rereading of a sentence that only records a high light.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Is the high light the only way out, or is there a door as well?
- Is any approval for bedroom use in the pack?
- Did the survey measure the opening or only describe it?
What are the typical next steps?
- Tell the solicitor no fire-escape test was carried out.
- Ask for approval for the change from garage to bedroom.
- Do not describe the high light as a passed escape.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
Has the survey approved the garage as a bedroom?
No. The survey does not issue building-regulations approval. It saw a former garage used as a bedroom with a small high light, and it did not carry out a fire-escape test. Approval, if it exists, is a paper the solicitor asks for. Describing the room does not create that approval or turn the high light into a tested escape.
Is a high window automatically good enough as a bedroom escape?
No. The survey has not called it acceptable and has not tested it. A high light can give daylight and still be a poor way out because of where it sits and how small it is. This visit did not measure it against a rule. The escape question stays open. There is no test result to close it.