Moving to Edinburgh
 

My boyfriend and I are moving to Edinburgh sometime mid-September 2007. What I'm wondering is: what are the good ares of town to move to? I'm 21 and he's 23 (he is English, I'm Canadian on an Ancestral Citizenship Visa), we're not into clubbing or nightlife, we just want a safe area with nice neighbours and either right downtown or with good access to the bus. :) We're a bit fussy about accommodations, meaning we don't want anything with bugs (ugh) or run-down ramshackle appearances (outside is ok, I just want the inside to be well-kept). I can afford an alright place, I just need to know where's good and where isn't! I was thinking Old Town and New Town among a few others .... any suggestions? Also I would like to know - where would you suggest I STAY AWAY from, if all else fails?

Also, anyone know of any resources or where to look for listings for letting agents/apartments/jobs?

Cheers!

Rach

Look at the estate agents listings. The areas in any town where the prices are higher tend to be the better ones. Also, I suggest you phone a couple of estate agents and ask them what the most desirable areas (and least desirable areas) are. If that fails, do a search for school ratings. The areas with good state schools tend to be the best to live in.
Carolena

Hi,
You don't mention whether you are looking for a house or a flat, as this could have some bearing on the area. Anyway, have a look at areas like Morningside (traditionally bourgeois area of town but with good bus connections, lots of shops, etc., very safe), also Bruntsfield (near Morningside, more students and more flats than houses), Marchmont, Stockbridge, Newington. All these areas are within easy striking distance of the centre of the city.
The New Town is safe but expensive!! Personally I wouldn't look for anywhere in the Old Town as it gets so busy with tourists, etc., but it depends where, I suppose... I guess I just don't think of it as a residential area.
Hope that helps a bit. :)

<<< The areas with good state schools tend to be the best to live in. >>>

The areas with good state schools tend to be the most expensive to buy / rent - for people without children they represent an avoidable expense.

Old Town, especially at the bottom of the Royal Mile (near Holyrood) is surprisingly cheap but isn't for anyone who has a car, hates crowds / lots of noise

Either a flat or a house would be fine - I know you can find some houses at good prices. Thanks for your input!

Good prices in Edinburgh ? My friend Alina who lives there is paying 500 pounds a month for a little flat with just one room, no lift and no heating in Costhorpine area(very good access to buses, that's the best thing). I don't remember the exact spelling, sorry !!! I find outrageouly expensive... I helped her to look for rentals and it was a difficult task, good luck !!
For what I saw as a tourist, I wouldn't like to be in the Old Town. It is very expensive to renovate buildings and sometimes impossible to do it, so if you find one you will be paying too much money only to have heating in your house or flat...

I'm amazed that you think you can get a house at a good price. For the most part, house prices in Edinburgh are ridiculous-about 2.5 to 3 times the cost of a house in Canada. You will have to rent unless you have a great deal of money to spend. If you buy a house and the housing bubble bursts, as it could do very easily, you will lose money.

<<< I know you can find some houses at good prices. >>>

Compared to London prices perhaps - or in areas where even I wouldn't want to live (Wester Hails, Sighthill)

Otherwise houses tend to be expensive for the simple fact that there are so few of them in Edinburgh.

Not quite sure where you got the idea prices were good in Edinburgh. Maybe give us an idea of what you want to spend. Because Edinburgh is a VERY expensive property market . . .

Rachclem,
You can get good and bad sections even in the supposedly good residential areas so I would suggest that you rent initially and during the rental period have a good look round the city and choose an area / streets which appeal to you.

The Old Town and the New Town are popular as basically you do not need a car, can walk anywhere you wish and do not need to spend money or time waiting on buses etc. They also tend to have reasonable access to and a good choice of cafes, restaurants, entertainment, bars etc. Obviously such areas are in demand and prices tend to be higher but the cost of housing outwith the city centre is now rising at such a pace that it is beneficial to live in the city centre and save on transportation. It would also mean that if you are staying for a reasonable amount of time you will make more money as the value of such properties continues to rise more than the outlying areas. You will have to put up with more people and traffic but as you will know that goes with any downtown area.
To get some ideas as to sale and rental prices have a look through the Edinburgh Solicitors Property Centre (George Street) website www.espc.co.uk That website will list all properties being offered for sale / rented by lawyers etc.
There are also Estate Agents with properties for sale and rent http://www.primelocation.com/uk-prop...ian/edinburgh/
but there are others and you may wish to do an Edinburgh Estate agents web search.
To get an idea as to prices achieved in any area or street in Edinburgh and elsewhere or to ascertain what price an individual house made when sold have a look at www.nethouseprices.com
To learn more about Edinburgh and look around at some of the features etc www.geo.ed.ac.uk/home/tour/edintour

<<< The Old Town and the New Town are popular as basically you do not need a car, >>>
In reality having a car in the Old & New towns is a PITA because parking is a) extremely limited, b) extremely expensive requiring either a residents permit or access to vast quantities of small change

AlanRow,
If you live in the city centre and have a car then you can get a residents parking permit and from all reports there are more spaces available as less people in these areas now use / own a car. It is when you move to the more populated residential areas outwith the city centre i.e Marchmont / Brunstfield etc that you get the problems as in such areas the City Council have deliberately sold more permits than there are residents parking spaces and this is causing major problems for these residents. For non city centre residents, city centre parking is problematic as parking is scarce, restricted and expensive.

When I said "houses at good prices" I didn't mean paying it all ourselves! I only meant that for the amount of bedrooms, therefore paying tenants splitting the cost, it might turn out to be a good deal. And yes, I was comparing these prices to London, which was where I was going to move orginally.

We're thinking no more than 550 per month, if that helps at all.

Thanks all for your input.

And jsut reading through it all again -just wanted to repeat, I'm looking to rent... not buy a house.

For £550 per month you'll get a one or (if you're very lucky) two bedroom flat in the Old Town or a nice area not too far out like Marchmont or Morningside. You won't even get a garage in the New Town for that.

Houses in areas near the city centre are *very* expensive and quite scarce - you can get houses quite cheaply further out, but not anywhere I'd want to live.

Also beware the curse of HMO. In order for a house or large flat to be occupied by > 2 non-related adults it needs a HMO (house in multiple occupation) licence. Such places tend to be aimed at students (not the wealthy public school ones either) so are mostly really grotty. You'd probably be more likely to get somewhere nice if you get a 1 or 2 bedroom flat than a larger flat or house with the idea of sharing it with others.

Will you need a car ? It is a big consideration as others have warned.

A good agency I rented from twice is www.albaresidential.co.uk. Avoid Grant Management like the plague as they are crooks.

Having a look at the Alba site just now for properties between £500 & £600pm, out of the first 10 I'd only consider the one in New Street (Old Town) - to me the rest are too far out & most are grotty areas.

When I read your initial &quot;<i>We're a bit fussy about accommodations . . . . I can afford an alright place</i>&quot; I wondered if you actually understood how expensive Edinburgh is.

You are in good hands now that Caroline_edinburgh has seen your thread. She lives right there and can help you. But - 550GBP I'm pretty certain won't get you anything fancy/centrally located.

I had, until recently, a 2 (well 1.5) bedroomed flat in Morningside which was &pound;565 pcm.

From the looks of it it hadn't been modernised since the late 1970's but it was &quot;cheap&quot; and satisfied my needs - a modernised flat in the area goes for at least &pound;100 pcm more

Rachclem,
There are one bedroom and two bedroom apartments available in the city centre for &pound;500 upwards. I was just on http://www.lettingweb.com/Dir_Proper..._Edinburgh.htm and see that there is a one bedroom new apartment in Lady Lawson Street - just at the side of the Novotel for &pound;500 and nearby in Castle Street there are two flats available each with one bedroom - one has castle views for &pound;550 - &pound;570.
I am sure that Caroline will also come up with some suggestions but try to make sure that the letting agents and owners are accredited under the recent regulations. At least that way you should ensure that you have a good property.

BTW watch out for properties that are advertised as &quot;white meter&quot; heating - it means the property is all electric and will cost a fortune to run

The last flat I rented was a nice one in Morningside &amp; it was &pound;875pm.

I know the new flats in Lady Lawson Street - they are aimed at students and so could be noisy, but since they are new they should be nicely done out &amp; it is a great location.

Janis, you are too kind !

meks, the Letting Web is a good idea, I'd forgotten about that.

Rach, you could also consider Leith which I moved to last year, as a lot of property there is still cheaper than Edinburgh. It's 2 miles from the centre so about the same as Morningside but in the opposite direction. It has the best bus service going, the 22, which runs all night &amp; is every 5-10 minutes during the daytime. The thing is you'd need to be very careful about exactly where in Leith - some parts are still quite grotty &amp; I wouldn't fancy walking home from the bus stop on my own to them. On or around the Shore is nice (although I know I'm biased !().

BTW will you be wanting a furnished property ? Furnished are easier to come by.

Thank god furnished is easier to come by! That's exactly what we'll be needing. I know it's about 8 months (!) early, but how early do you recommend getting in touch with letting agents and getting the ball rolling, considering I'm in Canada. What I was thinking (and correct me if I'm wrong because I'm quite new to this) I was hoping to have a bunch in mind and with appointments for viewing, view them all and find one within a week or so of getting there ... Stupid?

Rach. I think there are 2 problems with this approach.

The first is that generally when properties are advertised, they are available straightaway &amp; the owners want to let them asap - read, start receiving rent straightaway. Nice places go quickly. So you could line up properties to view but find they'd all gone by the time you arrive. Just occasionally, during my long years of renting (until last year !), I got an owner to keep a places for a few weeks without my paying rent, as they thought I seemed like a good tenant &amp; I wanted a long-term let, so was worth hanging on for. (How long ar you planning to stay ?)

The other problem is that September is when the university starts (Edinburgh University, that is - not sure about the others) so that's when the students are looking, or have already snapped a lot up. You may think, as I did initially, that you are not in the same market as students - but there are a lot of very rich students in Edinburgh. I remember hearing that a friend's nephew (who'd gone to Eton), was with 2 friends paying &pound;1000pm for a New Town flat 8 years ago !!

Sorry, I hadn't previously picked up on that 'September'.

I'm not saying that you won't find somewhere within a week, just that I think there's not much to be gained by contacting agents before arriving, and at that time of year it may take a while to find somewhere nice.

Is one of you coming to study at one of the universities ? Maybe they could help ? I believe the newer halls of residence may even include self-contained flats for couples, &amp; you'd have the security of having somewhere fixed up before arriving.

Or can you come any earlier ?

If you don't want to do either of these, I'd recommend just waiting until you arrive then checking the letting web daily, checking 'The Scotsman' (newspaper) &amp; the ESPC guide each Thursday, and registering with a few of the better agencies.

As you may already have found out by now, you can sign up with the letting web to be sent daily updates of what you are interested in. You could start of by selecting your max &amp; min prices, any other must-haves but selecting all areas, then whittle the areas down as you find out more about them. I could help by suggesting areas you can rule out straightaway :-)

I can't come any earlier unfortunately ... Currently I'm in a Travel &amp; Tourism program at my college, and am due to graduate in May. Then I'll be working full-time this summer, which essentially is how I'm affording this move. September is the earliest I can get over :( But I suppose there should be at least some places available when we come ... I hope :P

Is there any merit to the idea of getting a place with a few extra bedrooms then letting them out if we need the money? I know you mentioned the HMO curse ...That's kind of a new concept to me, considering in Canada you can rent any old bedroom in your house and take their money and nobody cares!

Hi Rach. I don't really think there's any merit in getting a bigger place &amp; renting out rooms &amp; I think you're more likely to find a nice smaller flat, but it just depends on what's avaialble when you arrive. It's good that you will consider either as it will give you more options, although I suppose it makes searching more difficult !

Another idea for when you get here is to look at 'The List', the fortnightly listings magazine. It lists some flats but more rooms to rent in flats, sharing with one or more existing owners/tenants.

I have to say your &quot;a few extra bedrooms&quot; made me smile - would it be presumptuous to assume you are not used to living in a big city where most people live in small flats ?? :-) I don't know anyone with a few extra bedrooms !

You've pegged me :$ I'm a small town girl living 45 mins outside of Ottawa. But I HAVE lived in an apartment when I went to University and I absolutely love the city...

When I said a few extra bedrooms, it was only because having looked at listings, we saw a fair few places available with 3 or 4 rooms!

Fair enough, there are 3-4 bedroom flats - but many will be grotty HMO ones.

I'm now coming round to thinking that maybe your best bet - and the least hassle - will be a flatshare from The List - I think most of the ads there are from owner-occupiers of probably quite nice flats who just want to let a room to spead the cost. Personally I'd rather get a 1 bedroom flat and not share, but each to his own (you're probably more easy-going than me !.

Rach, Caroline, et al.,

Just wanted to say thanks for starting this post, and for the helpful info. My husband and I are also evaluating a move to Edinburgh in September (or earlier to find a flat!), and this information was very useful. Thanks!

Re renting rooms out. You can rent rooms out in your own home up to 4,250 and receive the income tax free

Google &quot;Rent a Room&quot; (including the double quotes)

But as for &quot;I think most of the ads there are from owner-occupiers of probably quite nice flats who just want to let a room to spead the cost&quot;, I somewhat doubt it. Most will be HMO's and not &quot;rent a room&quot; and you'll probably find that every possible room is converted into a bedroom (or even 2 bedrooms) with the exception of what is generally described as an &quot;open plan kitchen / living area&quot; which means a small room with a cooker &amp; a sofa