Can anyone recommend how to look for an Edinburgh rental flat?

[ssd]

Looking to rent a 1 bed rental flat at the end of summer. Hoping to not pay more than £950. Have looked on rightmove and sparerooms.

Hoping to be close to city centre for good transport links.

Has anyone any advice where else to look, or agencies to contact?

Thanks

There's a Facebook page called egg Home and Away that is generally very helpful. Also worth checking out The Meadows Share/The Meadows Recommends Facebook pages.

It's not easy

As for transport links the train and tram run right through the centre so perhaps work out where you need to be and work out along the transport links to find something affordable and available.

All the best.

https://espc.com/property-for-sale/edinburgh.

eSPc is another site.

Says for sale but I think they do lettings as well.

Also contact letting agencies directly.

The Edinburgh rental market is brutal. They can have 20+ people interested in every property so they are snapped up immediately. Get on the books with all of the letting agents so that you're ready just to sign when something pops up. If they have to wait to do all your checks they'll got with someone already on their books.

Speak to friends and colleagues in the area because often it's word of mouth when something is about to come up, i.e. tenants moving on, and you can get in quick.

If you're willing to go a bit further out of city centre you might have more of a chance of getting something. Your will be very lucky to get something at that price, maybe looking more around £1100 for a one bed, city centre.

Citylets

Thank you for all these and i agree, it is a brutal market

Does anyone know if you need to sign a lease, i thought in Scotland rentals are month to month

No you still have to sign a lease.

Maybe air bnb if you want a shorter term period.

You sign a lease but there is only a 28 day notice period. The market is frantic for student lets including one beds.

So if i signed a lease for 12 months but gave a 28 days notice would i need to pay for the 12 months?

You don’t sign a lease for 12 months, you sign an open ended lease where you have to give 28 days notice. You can’t give notice until you move in so the minimum you can pay for is 29 days (landlord won’t be best pleased but couldn’t do anything). But you can give notice at any point. You only pay rent up until the end of your notice period.

Thank you

Some of the rentals I've seen say minimum term 6 months, thats why I'm asking. Why do they say that if they can't hold you to that, i wonder?

@ssd the landlord will want stability so hopes that tenants will be honest and only take on the lease if for a min of 6 months.

I can understand that but surely its against the law to advertise a place as minimum 6 months when the law says differently?

Citylets is your best bet or direct to some of the letting agents (Northwood, Umega, Southside, etc) you can browse available flats online

Thanks

Hi OP, I’m an Edinburgh landlord. I’m not sure you will find what you’re looking for within your budget. We are currently renting rooms for around your budget, not whole apartments! But these are city centre. We get a lot of enquiries and generally suggest people come to viewings with everything in order and ready to sign the tenancy; things move very quickly.

Thanks @EducatingSillySausages .
I know its a stretch at my budget.

Can i ask, when you say renting rooms, do you mean like houseshares?

@ssd Exactly, yes in an HMO property. My ds is a student in London renting privately, so I know both sides of the issue. For what it's worth, we've helped a lot of potential tenants who've arrived knowing nothing about their rights. I advise them all to look up the landlord and that the landlord registration number should be on the advert etc, and a host of other things. We do everything by the book and try to be supportive landlords, but apparently this isn't always the case.

That's good to know @EducatingSillySausages , i might be picking your brains soon!

@ssd are you based in Edinburgh currently or relocating? My advice would be to be ready to look at properties as soon as they come up - which is obviously easier if you’re already here/nearby. If not, I’d book a few days here and just focus on looking at flats.

I think you’d get a one bed for your budget - you said ‘close’ to the city centre and there are plenty neighbourhoods that are a longer walk but walkable or a short bus ride away from the centre - ideas might be Polwarth, Shandon, Newington, Morningside.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/149293484

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/149701805

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/149077970

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/148790354

Thank you. Relocating from Glasgow.