Moving to Edinburgh- catchment areas

[Penelopeleft]

Hi there!
Anyone from Edinburgh?
We are moving from a London to Edinburgh and planning to buy a flat. We have a 16 month old so thinking ahead about schools. He will go to P1 in 2023. There are two properties we liked and are considering making an offer for. The one we like more is in Canonmills/Inverleith... it's in the catchment area for Broughton primary and I have read people are not too keen on this school due to it being very very big. Any feedback? We would be very close to Stockbridge and Flora S's catchments bit just on the wrong side of the border.
The second flat (nice but needs more work and we are not as 'in love' with it) is in Morningside/Colinton and in the catchment for South Morningside school which I hear is excellent. Any advice from those of you who are local? Thank you all in advance

Morningside! (Just because I lived there) It’s fab. If it still feeds into Gillespies for high school then even better.

Thank you. I think the flat
Is the catchment for Boroughmuir.
Can I ask you what did you like about living in Morningside?

Nice shops, near the bypass for easy travel elsewhere, Lots of buses into town, a park across the road from my flat. I didn’t have my kids when I lived there though.

The Morningside area is a great one to live it. Lots going on, lovely restaurants, the Braid Hills are next to you for green space and lots of quirky, independent shops.

Boroughmuir has a good reputation and they've recently rebuilt the entire school. South Morningside primary also good but there's no parking nearby so you'd need to factor in walking to and from school every day in your plans.

Morningside is posher

Another vote for Morningside! I'd love to live there! Lovely shops, villagey feel yet accessible to the city centre. Excellent high school. Best out of the places you have mentioned.

I'm assuming if you're moving up from London then you'll find the property prices cheap .

Don't forget the "offers over" system - asking prices will generally be lower than the home report and at closing dates you'll have to generally add 5-10% on top of the HR value.

Boroughmuir’s footy pitch is on the roof. You can sit in a Pizza Hut at Fountain Park and look up at them playing 🤣🤣

Definitely consider Morningside - you can always make the flat how you want it to be in time? South Morningside is a brilliant school as is Boroughmuir! Great place to live both for young and older children. Lots of lovely shops and cafes, excellent buses into centre plus lots of green space in the Hermitage and Braid Burn. Feels like living in a really small town (in a good way) but pretty close to the centre to experience all that Edinburgh has to offer. Honestly, living here is great and in my opinion worth the price of not having a perfect flat.

OP, you’ll pay a percentage above based on the flat being in the South Morningside/Boroughmuir catchment. Our friends paid an eye-watering amount over the asking price at closing date just to get into that catchment. Also check if it’s definitely for those schools, as Colinton wouldn’t be SM and you say the flat is on the border. Have you checked with the council, as the selling brochure may have SM school to attract the buyers (possibly with an out of catchment placing request) , but it may not be the actual catchment school for the flat. Also be prepared to bid amongst other families for property there, but unlike London you won’t have to stress about placing requests once you’re in the area as you’ll get a place at your catchment school. Good luck with the move (whisper it I still miss London in many ways) Edinburgh is a fabulous city.

Thank you so much everyone. This is all very helpful advice. And sounds like there is consensus about Morningside! Yes I have checked and we definitely be in catchment for SM.

We have decided we are going to put an offer in, just still trying to decide how much to offer, bearing in mind how competitive it will be! I know it needs to be well over valuation report but so difficult to establish how much over is reasonable...

Now the fun bit! You’ll be fine with your Edinburgh solicitor, as they pretty much suggest the starting point for you, it’s up to you if it’s worth going over that. If it’s not going to a closing date, you’re in with a better chance under the Scottish system, but for that catchment they may hold off for a few offers. The home report will give you a sense of what area of figures you’ll need to be in as a starting point- cheeky offers can be made if the report is full of 2s & 3s in repairs listed!
But unsolicited advice, if you need to sell your London place first it may not be straight forward - not asking whether that is the case, it’s not my business to know- but from my experience, England to Scotland is not a simple transaction, as the timeline doesn’t match. We were lucky in the end, but they will put the Edinb property back on the market/take another offer if the process is strung out by an English solicitor. We had bought and sold in Scotland before so we knew to push and follow up, but unfortunately our English side hadn’t, he even charged us an extra fee for it and we couldn’t change solictors as too far along in sale. That’s a polite way of putting how stressful it can be. Would really help if your solicitor in London has experience with onward purchase in Scottish system. Good luck with your offer.

WeeBitSleepy thank you, that’s really really helpful. Gosh, it does sound stressful! We are lucky we don’t have to sell in England - we are renting at the moment and have a mortgage approved. So that might be on our side. The home report is a mixture of 2s and 1s and the flat does need a bit of updating AND is facing a busy road. So it’s not ‘the ideal’ flat for everyone. But it is spacious, nice and really well located. I was thinking a bit more than 10% over the home report...

Have you considered renting initially when you move to Edinburgh? Since you don't need to apply to schools immediately, it may give you a chance to confirm which area you like, and see what else becomes available.
It just seems a shame to jump at this particular flat if you're not sure about it (for example, how noisy is the road etc?)

Your Edinburgh solicitor will guide for your offer price - but in your position with no chain you might get away with a cheeky offer at this time of year and from what you’ve said about main road (but 1s & 2s are decent, no wriggle room there though, I would say) but it’s also driven by the school catchment. Personally, I would rent to start as pp said (you don’t have to sign a minimum rental contract in Scotland- just one month’s notice for leaving, if that helps?) and see what areas suit you as you’re not under pressure for school application yet. So many great family areas in Edinburgh with excellent primary schools that you could buy in, away from a main road (Morningside area main roads can be choked just as bad as London at commute/school times).