Need your advice on rental properties in the Blackhall, Craigleith Road areas

[maggiethecat]

I've had the thread about Blackhall and got good feedback.

Was starting to panic about not securing property for our end of July move but it seems that more are coming to market (timing issue I'm sure).

Citylets have 3 of interest: Craigleith Road, Hillview, and Gardiner Road - except Gardiner which is available now, others would be available in July.

Am planning trip up this weekend and would like to have idea of things to look out for/questions to ask - can anyone offer any advice on these property types/location - anything that springs to mind?

These 3 properties are all in a similar location. What I would suggest is look at how busy the road outside is & can you cope with it. Hillview is on a very busy road, Craigleith Road is only marginally better & you could get noise from the shopping centre very close - late night deliveries etc. Because of that Gardiner Road would be my favourite as I hate being on a busy road, but as you are moving from London area it might be perfectly acceptable for you.

When living on a busy road like that at certain times of the day in a car when exiting from drive / parking, you can only go in one direction. (My brother lives further along queensferry road and can only turn left virtually all day!).

Hope this helps

I much prefer the Hillview property. However... does it have secondary glazing or are they single glazed sash windows? Some single glazed properties cost a fortune to heat! Also the fact that it is furnished could put me off slightly. How much is parking permit at this location? Or is it free parking? If free parking you could have a problem finding a space nearby?

The Gardiner Road property looks fairly small but that could be to do with the lower ceilings. Bonus that you have off street parking.

Agree with the road descriptions CC.

I was going to mention the windows too - these (Hillview) properties have really high ceilings and are freezing in the winter (speaking from experience!). The house does look lovely though. Outside the property it is not free parking. I'm not sure what the rules are but within about 2 mins walk there is free parking and plenty of it so you wouldn't have a problem. Outside the Gardiner Rd one there is free parking and a drive too.

I think the Gardiner Road ceiling height looks a bit low because of the type of camera lens they have used. It looks like they have been tarting up the property over the last couple of weeks.

All helpful, thank you. Will definitely ask about double glazing for all properties as we will feel the cold after moving up from London's mediterranean climate!

Need to see these properties in the flesh. A kind MNetter has said she will look at them for me too if necessary (looking forward to Scottish hospitality )

If I do come up it will be early morning and I probably would view whatever's available quite early. Will not leave til late evening. Would you recommend taking bus rides around and just checking out areas? Anything else to give me a feel of communities?

Hi

If you get a chance, pop in to Blackhall Library, www.edinburgh.gov.uk/directory_record/5056/blackhall_library, which is great and has loads of community activities advertised on its noticeboard in the foyer. If you go in the afternoon, you will see lots of mums there - you could probably have a chat with them and find out more. We live a bit further out off Clermiston Road, higher up the hill but it's one of our local libraries (until they build our new library down the road - hooray!).

Good luck with the search!

Thank you. Might go to the library for a very public snooze since I will be leaving home at the crack of dawn!

maggie

We have very good friends who live in Craigleith Road, and we often go to their place. The street has a bit of traffic but is not too much and I never felt it was noisy. The good thing abou it is that and you can easily walk into town, Stockbridge, Blackhall, the botanics, Sainsbury nearby, etc. and you have two buses (24 and 38) along the road, or you can walk a bit more and get other buses into town. Our friends live in a Victorian house and it's true that the high ceilings and single glazed windows make it cold in the winter, but it is a lovely street and I'm not sure how old your children are but there are a couple of children living in that street and they often go to each other houses.
I don't know much about Hillview apart from being very busy, and I have never been Gardiner Road.

Good luck. Keep us update about the house hunting :)
x

Thanks Evitas. Booked to see all three tomorrow - C/leith sounds very good for what you say. Will report back.

Hope the viewings go well.