Buying an Edinburgh tenement

[meringue33]

Hello, we are considering buying a flat in Edinburgh, probably in the Old Town or New Town and I was hoping for some advice about the pros and cons of a tenement flat.

Please be gentle but we were thinking of using it primarily as a second home at the moment as we live down south. I am Scottish however, have family in Scotland and would love to move back full time eventually. Parents are getting older and as we spend a lot of time in the area it would be nice to have our own place rather than always imposing our whole household on them.

Would the neighbours hate us if we used it as a second home and rented it out as a holiday let when we were not using it? Is it permitted to do that within most leasehold agreements?

Are the service charges expensive on that type of flat and do they tend to stay stable over time? Do the older properties tend to be costly to maintain?

Any guidance very gratefully appreciated.

If you only need the flat for your family at Christmas/Easter/Summer then could you let to students who are happy to move out/put there stuff in a cupboard.

Neighbours would probably still hate you but those of us with DC studying in Edinburgh who struggle to find accomodation would love you.

@ClerkMaxwell - I think the problem with that is the new PRT tenancy agreements- they are no longer 6 months minimum/fixed term, so you can't have term-time contracts & let out at the festival over the summer - which was lucrative.

Yes the neighbours will hate you.

There's no such thing as leasehold in Scotland.

Factoring is unusual in Edinburgh except for newer blocks of flats

Traditional tenements don't have service charges except for newer blocks of flats.

A Private Residential Tenancy doesn't have an end date so the students have no obligation to move out at the end of term if they want to stay on.

The draft Short Term Letting regulations are on their 3rd or 4th iteration. Can't remember if the last consultation has ended but there will definitely be regulations coming in.

And I can I just mention, yes the neighbours will hate you and plenty of landlords will too ( the ones currently abiding by all the letting rules for long term lets and are just as fed up as everyone else with Air B 'n' B)

Thanks everyone, really appreciate the comments. Will look into the new regs. I’m starting to think the only ethical way to have a second home is to build one… it costs a lot though!

You will probably have mice in a tenement too IME. I would never buy a tenement because of noise, fact that a lot of the flats will be rented out and if there is ever a maintenance issue - good luck getting that sorted, security of the stairs etc, parking issues. I also think it is crazy considering renting out a flat when you are not nearby to sort out any issues. the problem is that the areas you are looking at already have a high density of holiday rentals / AirBNBs.