How do landlords measure the square footage of an apartment?

Question

I live in a gated apartment complex and it seems to me that they measure it as ALL floorspace available for the tenant and the apartment fixtures. For example, my one-bedroom apartment was advertised as 600 sq. ft., but when I measured everything (minus the space the fixtures took up), I found I had only about 450 sq. ft. of remaining floorspace. Is that false advertising or do landlords actually advertise square footage as being if you ripped all the fixtures out of the apartment and measured the bare floor? Thanks.

Answer 1

Yes, square footage is described as the wall-to-wall area within all areas of the apartment, house, etc. This even includes closets, bathtubs, cabinetry, etc. Sometimes they simply measure it by measuring the dimensions of the entire unit or building envelope (from the outside, what are the dimensions of the apartment or house?), calculate a gross square footage, and then multiply by some factor to take into account the area taken up by the walls.

Answer 2

Square footage is usually measured as the amount of space from wall to wall.  In houses it's often measured from the outside walls.

Since you have access to the appliances, and I imagine that the stove, refrigerator, storage etc. are all serving valuable purposes, the space available for your use encompasses 600 sq. ft of space.