Glasgow - Short term Let or AirBnB

RoyalDad

Husband and I are moving to Glasgow from York. He is leaving his job as an Assistant Head and hoping to find a role outside teaching up there. We are putting out current home on the market in April and hope to move to Glasgow by end of July (when he leaves teaching). Due to the crazy glasgow market our plan is to sell our house in York first as we will then be cash buyers in Glagsow and hopefully be move diserable to sellers. My question is do we try and find a short term rental for a few months or get a much more expensive AirBnB. Our problem is we have no real idea at how the quick or slow the process would be. Also concerned that landlord may not want a tenant for only a few months and also, may have to sign 6 months lease. 

I have read that you only have to pay a months 'rent' on airbnb if you cancel but would assume I would have to pay the full 6 months rent on a lease, even if we left after two?

Rosa_Damascena

kenmlove said:

Husband and I are moving to Glasgow from York. He is leaving his job as an Assistant Head and hoping to find a role outside teaching up there. We are putting out current home on the market in April and hope to move to Glasgow by end of July (when he leaves teaching).

Why? I think you may be in a better position money-wise if he sticks to teaching and finds a rung up to Deputy HT rather than making a leap into the unknown and compromise any mortgage decisions.

scottishblondie

You can just rent a property in the normal fashion.  In Scotland there is no longer a minimum term on a rental (from the tenant's side), you can give 28 days notice at any point after the tenancy has commenced.  You will not be liable to pay any lettings fees, as these have been illegal to pass on to tenants for many years up here.  

Admittedly, if you tell a LL that you're only planning to stay for a short period you might not be their first choice of tenant, but it is a chance they are taking with any tenant.

Unless you find a property where the seller is able to move quickly (already concluded their onward purchase, moving elsewhere etc) its likely to take a few months to get everything settled anyway.  

Caz3121

Rosa_Damascena said:

.... compromise any mortgage decisions.

OP said they would be cash buyers

hazyjo

Perhaps Airbnb would be easier. You may struggle to find a landlord willing to let to you without jobs, no matter how much money you can prove is in the bank.

The buying process is usually much quicker in Scotland than here.

theartfullodger

You need as (I presume **) people of an English domicile background to understand Scotland's PRT tenancy which applies to almost all new private tenancies.
https://scotland.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/renting_rights/renting_from_a_private_landlord/the_private_residential_tenancy

- where after signing up to a new tenancy the tenant can at any time give the landlord 28 days notice: e.g. on 2nd day of tenancy you can give notice to end tenancy 28 days later.

This gives great flexibility for tenants especially such as your good selves.

Good luck with the move!

** I am sadly born English but am a landlord in both England & Scotland

scottishblondie

hazyjo said:

Perhaps Airbnb would be easier. You may struggle to find a landlord willing to let to you without jobs, no matter how much money you can prove is in the bank.

The buying process is usually much quicker in Scotland than here.

If they pay upfront for a certain number of months there will be no issues in securing a property.  I'm not sure how that stands in relation to being able to give 28 days notice, mind you!  That would need a bit of research.

I will say that up here it seems that purchases are dragging on more than they used to.  It used to be commonplace to buy a property before you had sold your own place, but that is not really happening anymore.  Mortgage lenders are not so keen on you having 2 mortgages, bridging loans are stupid expensive, and you would have to stump up the 4% LBTT additional property surcharge for even a small overlap.  So it's more common now for chains to form in a similar way that they do down south.  No one will conclude their missives until everyone is set and the dates of entry are agreed, which really slows the process.

Our purchase in 2018 took nearly 3 months to conclude, with a date of entry 2 weeks later.  We didn't have anything to sell and the vendors were moving to their holiday home, so that was a lot longer than we had anticipated.

little_miss_messiah

Following with interest!
I'm moving to Glasgow from  just down the road from you in Selby (awaiting the training course to be confirmed but 90% likely 28th March) 
I'm doing the same, selling here, renting until sale completes here and buying up there as a hopefully 50% LTV buyer.
I'm finding rentals weirdly expensive and am looking up to 15miles from the city, unsure if I need references etc (I've not rented for over 20 years) 
I'm also doing it totally solo and have the poss complications of 2 housecats and trying not to panic 👀

Edited as wasnt sure if allowed but OP feel free to PM 

sheramber

scottishblondie said:

hazyjo said:

Perhaps Airbnb would be easier. You may struggle to find a landlord willing to let to you without jobs, no matter how much money you can prove is in the bank.

The buying process is usually much quicker in Scotland than here.

If they pay upfront for a certain number of months there will be no issues in securing a property.  I'm not sure how that stands in relation to being able to give 28 days notice, mind you!  That would need a bit of research.

I will say that up here it seems that purchases are dragging on more than they used to.  It used to be commonplace to buy a property before you had sold your own place, but that is not really happening anymore.  Mortgage lenders are not so keen on you having 2 mortgages, bridging loans are stupid expensive, and you would have to stump up the 4% LBTT additional property surcharge for even a small overlap.  So it's more common now for chains to form in a similar way that they do down south.  No one will conclude their missives until everyone is set and the dates of entry are agreed, which really slows the process.

Our purchase in 2018 took nearly 3 months to conclude, with a date of entry 2 weeks later.  We didn't have anything to sell and the vendors were moving to their holiday home, so that was a lot longer than we had anticipated.

I bought in October 2020 as a cash buyer and entry was 4 weeks from offer acceptance,  agreed at time of purchase.

I sold my house in the September with 4 weeks agreed entry date.

[Deleted User]

I am from Glasgow originally, now live about an hour away. I think your options are pretty much neck and neck in terms of the positives and negatives, considering no one can tell how long it will take to buy a house.

The only thing that springs to mind is that, if you are staying in an expensive Airbnb, you might feel more pressured to buy or pay more than you'd like, to avoid being there and paying over the odds in the long term. This isn't really conducive to the current market in which there is so much competition and people are paying way over home report values. In which case, it might be best to find a rental for 6 months or so to allow yourselves some leeway. Although the Scottish system is quicker, there is no telling how many people you are up against and how long in actuality it will take. 

Let me know if you need any help with regards to suitable areas to stay in! Best of luck!

getmore4less

@little_miss_messiah

When I was looking for a short term to do a contract solo it was very hard as I wanted flexible and cheap and very central.

A lot of property is aimed at students or long term 

Did a wanted add and got offered house shares too far out for me but would work for temp accommodation some were pet friendly.

For slightly longer Airbnb sometimes a short stint then go direct can work to squeeze the total.