Tony's place on Edmonstone's Close has a number of definite advantages. The place is spacious, pretty clean and very central - especially when Edinburgh is hopping during the August Festival.
However, there are a number of things to consider before renting.
1/ Access to the apartment was not as described. The instructions said the keybox had a particular marking, but we could not find any that matched the description, perhaps because it has rubbed off but no-one had bothered to check? When I called the phone number given for difficulties, the agent could not give clear directions regarding the location of the correct keybox and it was only by trial and error that we got the keys.
Further, when I asked if the address was apartment 2 in building 4 or the other way around, the agent completely misdirected us! It was only when other renters happened to turn up that we were able to eliminate the incorrect option. We were told that someone was coming to help, but they did not turn up for 30 minutes, by which time we’d worked it out ourselves.
But because of this, we were late for our first Ed Fest event and were not allowed into the theatre (wasted tickets GBP30). If the instructions had been clearer or the help more responsive, we would not have missed the show. As it was, the whole check-in process was unclear, frustrating and costly.
2/ The apartment is supposed to have two full bathrooms, one with a bathtub. Only a few days before our booking, we were told that the bathtub/shower in the master bathroom was unusable because of a leak.
This made a big difference to our stay, as my partner regards a morning bath as part of any vacation and the tub was one of our reasons for choosing the apartment. Still, by the time our host informed us of this problem, it was really too late to find alternative accommodation.
When we arrived at the apartment, I noticed that the sign saying we could not use the bath/shower in the master bathroom was laminated. It's possible that this was a recent response to the leak problem, but the permanent nature of the sign made me suspect that the problem has been ongoing for some time, but the host only informed us as clients after both payments we made and it was really too late for us to find other accommodation. I can't say this for sure of course, but if the bathtub and use of both bathrooms is important to you, please do check both bathrooms are fully functional well in advance of any payments.
If renting in summer, the apartment can get quite hot and stuffy, yet there is no cooling and not even room fans provided. You can open the windows in the cool of the evening, but there's quite a smell of cooking grease through the front room windows onto the Close (from the Mussels restaurant below) and both bedroom windows open onto a back street full of nightclubs, which pump it out till the wee hours, and from which people noisily emerge till 4 or 5am on weekends or during the Festival month.
4/ During our stay, the latch on the washer/drier was completely broken off, meaning you could not open the latch or use the laundry at all.
5/ The power point that you need to turn on to use the freezer makes a continual beep that you can hear through the walls into both bedrooms. Your choice is to keep your ice and ice cream frozen, or to have a peaceful sleep!
In short, the apartment itself is pretty good, but it is neither well maintained nor well managed, especially for the premium price.
In fairness, I should mention that we got small-ish refunds for both the bathroom issue and the check-in problems leading to our missed Edinburgh Festival show. But knowing what we do now, I would not rent again.
Megan James
Toronto, Ontario
Stayed Fri Aug 23 - Mon Aug 26, 2019