Rentals Dundee/Edinburgh

[GirlInterrupted]

Hi, I was wondering if I can have some advice? We are looking to move to Scotland soon and have been spending a lot of time online, trying to find a place to rent, but am finding it near impossible. I have looked on Rightmove, zoopla, local estate agents websites, etc.

I found a place that we felt would be perfect for us, sent a message to the agent, but received no reply.

My question really is, am I missing something? The places seem to dissappear as soon as they appear!

Is there a better way to go about it? Do landlords rent out privately? The only places I can see, seems to be through agents.

It is just my husband and I, both mid 40's working full time, children are adult and no longer living at home. But we would need a 3 bed for them to visit us.

All advice welcome

Things do move fast. Last time I was renting I used citylets website - it aggregates rentals across a lot of agents. Good luck!

Even though you are professionals with a good income you will no doubt be competing with a lot of students just now as this is the peak time for students to be securing rentals.

And yes, things move very fast.

Finding a rental in Dundee at the moment is really difficult. Sign up to lots of local agents or use A Facebook group like EGG Dundee to say what you are looking for and see if private landlords get in touch.

Not sure about Dundee but Edinburgh moves really fast. You'll need to phone about the property as soon as it comes up and take it.

Register and do all your income checks etc with the letting agents now so you're in a position to just snap it up. Otherwise they'll bypass you and go straight to the next person in line who's already done all the paperwork. Get them to call you as soon as a suitable property becomes available.

Sign up to a FB page called Edinburgh Gossip Girls (EGG) and then EGG-home and away. I think you have to be a member of the former to be a member of the second one but not sure. Both linked below.

This is a massive network of women in Edinburgh, some of who are connected/work for rental/property companies as well as lots of private landlords. Well worth getting your details on there and asking. I've seen people hooked up before who have been in similar situations.

www.facebook.com/groups/1615810811988091/?ref=share

www.facebook.com/groups/1982134145298396/?ref=share

I don’t know Dundee but I’m in Edinburgh and flats/houses move really fast here. You have to be on it, especially if you want unfurnished (removes about 90% of the options).

In my experience it’s better to ring lettings agents rather than email. (This goes for a lot of things in Edinburgh, I’ve found.)

Even so, we had to agree a deal on our place sight unseen - ie no viewing, except a video walkthrough - in order to secure it. Although this was mid 2021 and we were moving from London so viewing flats was almost impossible from a practicality perspective.

keep an eye on ESPC for rentals as well as the big portals. It’s massively expensive to add Lettings packages to rightmove so some agents just use ESPC.

Great advice thanks everyone!

I agree that things are moving very fast. Good properties are often online for less than a day, as agents take the advert down once they have enough enquires. Often they will have a list of 20 viewers and another 20 on a waiting list within a few hours.

Also only 10% of the lets for Q1 in Edinburgh were 3 bed flats, so you are competing in a tiny section of the market.

Wheras 43% of lets are 2 bed flats. Maybe your relatives could stay in an Air Bnb when they come to visit ?

Or take a 2 bed now and once you are up here you can look for a 3 bed. Remember that when you rent your only costs to move are your own removal costs . Letting agents in Scotland don’t charge you for anything else.

Thanks again for the advice!

There’s a great shortage of rentals in Dundee at the moment so you will be competing with students The uni has been putting students in digs 20 miles away.

You could broaden out to Broughty Ferry (which is a billion times nicer than Dundee, although I’m biased!). It’s only 4 miles away from Dundee and generally not an area that students live in.

Are you able to widen your search area? There are a few 3 beds listed in Stirling which is commutable to Edinburgh and about an hour from Dundee also, or there will be loads of places in Fife in between Dundee and Edinburgh that might suit?

And please also tell me about council tax, is that included in the rent or additional?

Council tax is usually not included in the rent, neither are utilities - gas, electric, internet etc.

Unless the advert says otherwise it is just the price to rent, no other bills included.

Where are you moving from @GirlInterrupted ?

I think we used CityLets for Edinburgh (if it still exists) plus scoured Gumtree and the websites of various letting agents. We ended up renting 6 weeks before we needed property simply to secure something suitable - rents are also high in edinburgh. 3 bed rental average rent is £1400 per month I believe. Good areas will be higher

From Ireland

We used S1 for Edinburgh.

Well guys, just back from Scotland. Wow, what a place! The public transport is excellent compared to what we have. I went around Dundee, Perth, Kirkcaldy, Dunkeld and loads of other places. Now even more confused as everyone I've talked to seems to have a different opinion.

I did not realise that you could be out in the countryside in a few minutes and that the places are so well connected by public transport.

It is difficult to know which area to look for a place, as said before, one person would say don't look in Dundee and another would say oh I love Dundee. And as we have no school children, we have decided to look for a house that suits us, rather than pick a certain area. Obviously we would make sure it's not a complete shit hole.

So please let me have your honest opinions on the areas to definitely avoid and reason.

Thanks again everyone!

Okay, let's narrow it down a bit....Where will you be working from or commuting to? What's your budget? What size of property do you need? What are your hobbies or how do you like to spend free time i.e. shops, bars and restaurants or hiking and water sport kind of people?

Husband can work anywhere offices in Glasgow, Perth, Montrose, Edinburgh and on various sites. I will find work wherever we are that is convenient as I'm in accounts.

We like going to restaurants, movies, also like water sports. Our ideal location would be by the water. Ideally a couple of miles out in the countryside.

Sorry, at least two bed with garage as we are bikers. We will be renting so no more than 1.2k pcm

What water sports ? Open water swimming , surfing , dingy sailing ? Theres no point in us finding you a great house beside a loch if you like kite surfing !

If you like cinema and eating out I'd stick with the cities .

Dundee, or Broughty Ferry if being close to the sea is important.

North Berwick, now has train line to Edinburgh but can be expensive and property is in short supply. Or Dunbar.

Stirling could also be a good option.

Edinburgh, to the North so you're close to the sea. Portabello perhaps or South Queensferry.

Your criteria are still pretty broad so it's still hard to narrow it down.