Student accommodation- Edinburgh

[WollyandTig]

What is the current going rate for student accommodation in Edinburgh? Family member currrently renting a private halls bedroom room and ensuite for about £850 a month. Being quoted £1400 a month for next year - not even ensuite 😫 is this the actual going rate now? Family member saying this is the new pricing as student loans going up. Surely this can't be right?!

They’ve got to try to make some money somewhere. Unis are making a loss on uk students, Scot’s especially. Tories cutting student visas is reducing one of the certain areas of income. Unis will go bust everywhere in the next 10 years. If Edinburgh are charging that much for accommodation they might just be able to ride it out.

Not really a political question - a practical one as to whether this is the actual going rate. And these are private halls - not owned by the uni.

UofE Halls tend to vary from c.6-9.5k per year(they are on its website), however private halls can be £250per week plus. Generally rent costs are rising more this year as annual increases have been capped for past few years.

No idea what the going rate is, but depending on the course there might be a lot less contact time so might be OK to move outside if the city and commute in? I'd just make sure they were on a night bus route so they still get the social opportunities as well as being on a bus/train route for day time.

Private halls tend to be expensive in general but renting anything in Edinburgh is not cheap.

Presumably they would get free bus travel unless they are a mature student?

www.accommodationforstudents.com/search-results?location=Edinburgh&beds=1&occupancy=min&propertyTypes=halls&minPrice=0&maxPrice=500&latitude=55.953251&longitude=-3.188267&geo=false&sortBy=price&order=asc&page=1

Seems to be options under £200 a week?

Young Scot card only gives free bus for under 22s

Most 2nd year students will be 19?

But Scottish degrees are 4 years minimum so you can easily still be an undergrad at 22/23. Shared flats can be £700 each min plus bills in city centre unless you get very lucky. The uni has its own rental arm under Domus which can be cheaper but also more competitive to secure.

Yes but that wasn't the question? Neither of mine were able to get the travel while at Uni so no axe to grind but might be useful to know if that's not something OPs relative has thought about.. Sounds like OPs relative has either not looked at alternatives or wants to stay where they currently are, as a quick google shows that £1400 isn't the going rate.

My son is going into second year at Edinburgh Uni. First year halls was £6700 for the academic year self catering en-suite and this coming year will cost £730 a month plus bills for a private central three bed flat.

Thanks everyone. The places looked at had headline figures of £200 a week but once clicking through to booking, it was about £1400 a month. They are also trying to get students to sign up to 12 month contracts - used to be Sept-May! Crazy.

Private halls are expensive across the UK, does this student want to be in halls or have they considered flatshare which is usually much cheaper.

Experienced parent here who has done halls in Edinburgh and 3 other UK cities including 1 year of using private halls, which are mainly full of overseas students

An example. Here is an example of what is currently available in the Old Town

DD paying £532 + bills for private rental in Marchmont (4 sharing one bathroom).

University of Edinburgh halls usually only do 12 month contracts in the postgrad accommodation.

I was £9k for the year in 2006, for catered halls at Edinburgh, so given were nearly 20 years on that sounds about right! Edinburgh has always been an expensive city for accommodation.

The cheapest UofE seem to be offering is £5.3k for the year www.accom.ed.ac.uk/our-accommodation/college-wynd/

Private halls do seem to be expensive. This is partly because they often offer a range of extras such as gym, or cinema room, as well as inclusive of bills, but also their headline figure may be for their cheapest rooms which can sell out six/nine months in advance leaving expensive ‘studios’. These studios seem the worst of both worlds to me; they are en suite rooms with tiny kitchenettes. The rooms are too small for hosting but you no longer have a reason to leave them to cook a meal so could be pretty isolating.

We are a couple of years out from this but think an en-suite studio will be DD only real option as she’s coeliac so a shred student kitchen fills me with fear. I dread to think what we are looking at cost wise by 2027

Private landlords are very reluctant to rent to students here as there's no minimum or fixed term on a lease.

So LL wish longer term tenants.

It's a hugely competitive rental market & there's massive issues with housing supply.

One big advantage of halls over shared flats is you can’t be trapped into a shared lease. If you have a joint tenancy, you can’t get out of it unless everyone on that joint tenancy agrees. So if you want to end the tenancy because you have finished your course, but your flatmates don’t agree then you are stuck and remain liable for the shared rent until whenever they decide to leave which could be years later. You might also find yourself stuck if your flatmate disappear home to South America without signing a letter ending the tenancy. Or if you are the victim of domestic abuse and your partner chooses to use your joint tenancy as a way to control/abuse you further.

It is another example of terrible SNP legislation. It will hopefully be sorted by a bill presented before parliament a couple of months ago but until that goes through you cannot be sure you won’t potentially remained trapped (and guarantors remain liable too).

My DD has found private lets quite flexible. For her placement year, she took over room of student who was doing a year abroad and now she's returning to her uni city she's moving in with friends doing longer MSci courses taking space of friend graduating. For the flat she's leaving she just needs to give 28 days notice and doesn't need permission of other flat mate to leave. Landlord happy to transfer lease to other flatmate and year abroad student who is returning (and not taking opportunity to hike rent although he could as it is a new lease when DD leaves).

Legally it isn’t a new lease unless all the students agree to end it, and your DD remains liable for the whole shared tenancy (alongside the other flatmates), unless the landlord agrees to assign her tenancy to another student. In most circumstances the landlord will be reasonable and allow this but the potential is there for them to say ‘no’.

https://www.gov.scot/publications/new-deal-tenants-rented-sector-reform-current-proposals/pages/3/

If landlord not reasonable about transfer of lease then other tenants just have to give 28 days notice themselves and find somewhere else. DDs BF did this as one flatmate dropped out and other wanted to avoid paying over summer.

I like the 28 days notice on private lets.

Agree Edinburgh expensive my DD will pay £100 a month more than her Glasgow placement year West End flat but Edinburgh uni do have cheaper halls and flats (via Domus). You get to choose top 5 for 1st year allocation so can avoid the £££.

Yes it is good being able to give 28 days notice. Though there is a risk in ‘not paying over the summer’ of being able to find a flat in the autumn, perhaps less of a risk in Edinburgh where there will be a high demand for a summer let (though short term letting laws are causing problems with that)? I believe St Andrews is similar - some landlords let students vacate for the summer with an agreement to renew their lease in the autumn to enable them to make the most of the summer trade.