buy to let in Scotland?

irishno1

Hi,

I am considering purchasing a buy to let property in Scotland (properties in Northern Ireland too expensive now!)--I would need the rent to cover the mortgage so thinking about something around £70-80k. Has anyone any suggestions? I am told that areas such as Aberdeen, Fife, Dundee and Perth would be very good long term investments and that there is a very good rental market? Anyone any advice/tips?

chainguy

I can recommend Cumbernauld as great for good rents, cheapish propery and almost no voids times due to the high call centre/transient worker population of the place.

That said, I used to have 7 BTL properties, and I sold them all bar from one in August this year....

THE_MIDDLEMAN

Dundee has a good Call centre population, high amounts of students 2 uni's good area,

Aberdeen is quite expensive to buy in the city

Fife is ok, Perth too.

Go for Dundee

I will sell you my 2 bed in april / may 07 when we move....lol

Mattjimf

If you want to buy in Aberdeen to rent i'd suggest looking to either Buckburn/Dyce for oil companies looking to home staff or Garthdee for students attending RGU buildings there. Both have good transport links, Bucksburn/Dyce being close to the aiport for offshore oil workers.

GiveItBack

but at the moment you might struggle to actually buy something in those areas of Aberdeen at that price. Lots of recent tales of people paying 1.5x or even double the offers over price.

Kinnairdy

On average prices in Aberdeen & Aberdeenshire are selling at up to 40% above the 'offers over' prices according to the Company of Solicitiors/Estate Agents I work for.
You now have to register as a Landlord with Aberdeen/shire Councils, £55.00 per property per 3 years and £11.00 per household per year plus you the Landlord are now responsible for resolving any Problem Tenants behaviour, failure by the Landlord means the Council can at it's discretion take over your Tenancy + rent for up to 1 year.
Council Tax is also a killer up here.
Most regular guaranteed income is from renting to Housing Benefit Tenants, never had any bad Tenants in 4 years but fed up of Councils sneaky stealth taxes so have just sold mine to another Landlord.
Everything much more expensive up here, Property, C.T. Tradesmen, Solicitors etc. Not worth the expenditure imho.
This is just my personal opinion, if I have inadvertently upset anyone I apologoise in advance.:eek:

Prudent

If you are looking for longer term investment you might want to consider Alloa in Clackmannanshire This town is just about to get a new rail link and is under going a transformation from a run down place to busy and popular town. You could still buy a one to two bed flat for 70 -80k. Rental around £350 - £400 per month. Prices seem to be rising fast and are expected to continue rising with the new growth in the area.

Was considering a btl myself, but favouring a holiday let in the nearby hillfoots area more just now because of tax advantages on holiday lets.

Expect to pay 10 -20% over the advertised asking price. There are some fixed price properties around.

neobis

irishno1 wrote:

Hi,

I am considering purchasing a buy to let property in Scotland (properties in Northern Ireland too expensive now!)--I would need the rent to cover the mortgage so thinking about something around £70-80k. Has anyone any suggestions? I am told that areas such as Aberdeen, Fife, Dundee and Perth would be very good long term investments and that there is a very good rental market? Anyone any advice/tips?

I think Scotland on average is more expensive the Northern Island for house prices?

You would be struggling to get a half decent location that is a rentable flat in the Edinburgh area for 80k.

Uniscots97

What about Livingston? A lot of people from edinburgh are moving there as its too expensive to rent or buy in edinburgh now for a lot of people. Lots of large scale employers in Livingston too (HP, Aptuit, Canon, Jabil, Sky, Intelligent Finance)

irishno1

Thanks everyone for the replies, anyone any other current suggestions for good BTL in Scotland---you may have seen on news Northern Ireland has had highest property growth in Europe at 36% last year so have no option but to look elsewhere.

dwight-van-man

You might want to have a look at the Borders. Galashiels for example, you can get a 1 bed/bed& boxroom for around the 50k mark and get between £50-£450 in rent. Prices there are on the rise as its commutable to Edinburgh and is about to be connected to Edin via a new rail link. Hawick has slightly lower prices and growth, but the rent is still there.

If you're looking at Edinburgh, the less deirable areas your budget will get you are seeing a rise in rents due to the numbers of Polish people coming to the city. Granton, Pilton and Restalrig for examle are renting well and you'll get something for between 80k and 120k