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Moving to Edinburgh! - Apartment Advice
DrHookenstein
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So the girl and I are moving to Edinburgh so she can commence her Veterinary degree at Dick's School of Veterinary Medicine, and we've begun to arrange our ducks.
What are good places to target / avoid? I've found a few web sites geared towards students, but few actually give address blocks, or tell you where the neighborhood they are describing actually is on a map. Is there anyone out there who might be able to just digitally circle spots on a map?
Any good contacts for apartment brokers in the region? (i.e., folks who you hire to locate apartments to your specifications--not glorified third party marketing companies whose clients are actually the apartment complexes themselves)
Also, any good advice specific to the region or city?
I've moved a ton during my college years here in the USA, but I've never tried moving to a foreign country where I've never even seen the city.
Even if all you can offer is general advice, I'm all ears. Thanks for whatever info you've got!
What are good places to target / avoid? I've found a few web sites geared towards students, but few actually give address blocks, or tell you where the neighborhood they are describing actually is on a map. Is there anyone out there who might be able to just digitally circle spots on a map?
Any good contacts for apartment brokers in the region? (i.e., folks who you hire to locate apartments to your specifications--not glorified third party marketing companies whose clients are actually the apartment complexes themselves)
Also, any good advice specific to the region or city?
I've moved a ton during my college years here in the USA, but I've never tried moving to a foreign country where I've never even seen the city.
Even if all you can offer is general advice, I'm all ears. Thanks for whatever info you've got!
"He piled upon the whale's white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down; and then, as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot heart's shell upon it." -Moby Dick
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The Dick College is beside the Meadows, a large grass park in the 'Old Town' side of Edinburgh (the New Town is to the North of Edinburgh Castle/The Royal Mile). It's very close to George Square which is the main university campus and it's right beside Marchmont, which is the main student area in Edinburgh. Marchmont is lovely, very very safe, beautiful large flats and just generally a cool place to be. The problem is that most of the flats here are 3/4/5 bedrooms, so you would need to share.
It's been a few years since I lived in Edinburgh but if you share, then 1 bedroom in a 3 or 4 bedroom flat would generally be about 325-350 per month. For a 1 double bedroom with a living room it would probably be around 650-750 per month.
Bruntsfield is a bit further out and is very similiar to Marchmont. There are loads of places in the New Town which are a bit fancier, but more expensive and not as 'studenty'.
You also have Newington and St Leonards which are both very close to the Vet college. Not as nice as Marchmont of Bruntsfield, mostly newer buildings which might be a bit smaller although are more likely to be 1 or 2 bedrooms.
AVOID Grant Management like the plague. They are one of the largest 'letting agencies' in Edinburgh and they have scammed me and many of my friends so many times. They are a terrible company, please don't give them any of your money. I'm pretty out of the loop so i cant recomend any other letting agencies or websites im afraid.
Now Edinburgh is quite safe in general, however there are several areas you really want to avoid.
Craigmiller, Niddrie, Sighthill, Wester Hailes, certain parts of Leith, Granton are pretty nasty places. Generally these places are all on the outskirts of Edinburgh and probably too far away to live in anyway.
It's an incredibly beautiful and fun place to stay, and there's a lot going on (I miss it so badly now that I live down south). Edinburgh University is massive and has loads of societies and groups, the vets in particular are very sociable. It's Scotland, so it can get a bit cold and rainy, but absolutely nothing beats hanging out on the Meadows on a warm summer day with a couple of ice cold beers just chilling on the grass.
That was a bit of a meandering ramble, but if you have any other questions feel free to ask.
I read something about an apartment tax to watch out for when looking at rent/lease rates... is that a local tax that renters bear? Should I be mentally adding some X number of pounds when looking at rental prices?
Are there any funky laws or ordinances that as a US citizen I would be unaccustomed to?
And the opposite, are there certain protections I'm used to expecting when dealing with landlords that I would not longer enjoy?
It depends you may find yourself with some contractual responsibility. For example my sister lives in Edinburgh and it's a council regulation that she has to clean the stairwell outside her flat once a month or so.
As for laws I suppose the major difference is that you aren't allowed weapons, guns are obviously completely illegal and even a reasonably sized pocket knife could get you in trouble. Other than that Scottish and US law will mostly identical for your purposes.
Oh and your car can't be clamped but you can most certainly be fined for illegal parking. :P
The Visa requirements are much more stringent than I would have imagined. Anyone familiar with the expected time delay in processing these things?
Don't know, but you are going to need to work hard to get a UK visa. It is going to be difficult and require your effort. You aren't a member of the Commonwealth and the US have not been particularly kind to UK citizens getting US visas. My personal experience is that the UK is generally reciprocal to most other Western nations: you scratch my back, I scratch yours. So you won't get any special treatment, which means you need to start researching quickly what visa you intend to get.
I used to recommend the Working Holiday visa, at least to begin with (IIRC that was only Commonwealth though), but that's now been closed.
I would call your nearest UK embassy ASAP and talk about what the best way to do it is.
Great heads up. I'll follow up with that on the morrow. Thanks!
Council tax isn't usually factored into the price of rent.
If you want a TV, you'll also need to pay for a TV license.
TV license is about £175 a year I think and is the fee paid to support the BBC.
Visa's can be hard to get for US citizens because the US is generally pretty dickish to us trying to get US visa's. What is your profession/where do you expect to work when you get here? If you're just hoping to work in bar's or retail, you'll probably never get a working visa. I think you can get a holiday visa for up to 6 months, but it'll be illegal for you to work here.
You don't really get 'apartment complex's here, it's almost all private landlords who pay a letting agency 10-20% to furnish, maintain and find tenants for their properties. There are many private landlords who advertise through craigslist or whatever, but it's generally letting agencies.
Is your girlfriend an undergrad or a postgrad? If she's a postgrad then I think Edinburgh University have some flats that they let to couples, but I could be wrong.
Friends who have gone to study abroad for a year have headed off a month or so before the start of term and stayed in a hostel whilst looking for a flat.
That and since we opened the door to anyone from the EU we've cut down on other immigration to compensate. I'm not really sure what advice to give you to be more desirable to the visa people other than to have a clean criminal record and a desired profession.
Yeah I was also going to mention that if you're working council tax may well be much more than you are used to. Edinburgh isn't a cheap place to live in general being a capital. Also what ponge said is correct if you live with a student you have to pay 75% of the council tax not half. A dick move by the council but that's how it is.
Well, to answer the questions and not be rude, yeah, I'll be going back for a second degree (undergrad, though, since it's completely unrelated to my prior and I have none of the pre-requisites), although she'll be a post-grad. To whit, I'll look into the UoE flats you mentioned may exist, Ponge.
The Visa thing seems like it may be a bitch since I have not yet even applied to any universities (thinking I would start up after a year of working so as to help us settle in financially), so I have no 'sponsor', and yet I don't have work lined up. I haven't read through the visa requirements beyond the student ones, yet, so I'll have to see what other opportunities exist--but this is a great dialogue; keep it coming.
That council tax thing seems annoying, but doesn't seem unmanageable. It does raise a question: how does income tax work? Same as the USA where you file every year under penalty of perjury (although cursory reviews of records are conducted) and suffer an audit at random? Or is it different?
You can check how much you would pay on this website:
listentotaxman.com
Dealing with the UKBA by phone can be pretty frustrating - if you have to call them prepare to be treated in a hostile way even if you have a simple question*. They are not so bad if you turn up in person at the embassy, if that is an option for your visa
It might be that you could get try and piggy back on your partner's visa, if you can demonstrate a proper relationship that satisfies their test. I have a few friends that have done that for a variety of different visa types
Having gone through the visa process several times, it can be bloody hard and frustrating. If you can't get an easy visa (say a short term working holiday kind) then it may be a good idea to fork out some cash and get an Immigration Consultant to help you out.
*I assume this is because they are manically busy and so many callers are stressed/freaking out
They showed me and a friend a flat that had a cupboard with a couch in it and then had the balls to say 'This is your living room' and one of my friends viewed a place that had spray paint up all the walls,smashed windows and no front door, the guys living there at the time said it had been like that for at least two months and Grant Management kept brushing them off.
Yep.
(Almost) everywhere takes VISA or Mastercard, vast majority of places will take debit cards like Delta, Maestro and Solo too (think those last two are mainly confined to the UK anyway).
Only Credit Card you may have problems with is American Express - a lot of places don't accept them because of the exhorbitant processing fees.