The client’s name has been changed to protect their privacy
An owner-occupier, Callum, had lived in his first-floor flat in an Edinburgh tenement for several years. It had suited his needs when he was younger but his health was deteriorating. He had mobility problems and he had also been diagnosed with autism.
There were other problems too. The flat had no central heating and Callum couldn’t face the upheaval of installing heating for the first time. In addition to this, there were difficulties with common repairs. When Callum first bought the flat all the residents were owner-occupiers but that had changed over the years and there were several private tenancies. This sometimes led to difficulties with getting owners to pay their share. When Callum arranged for the stair door to be painted the landlords refused to pay in advance. Callum had to pay all their missing shares and provide their agents with receipted invoices before the owners would pay.
“That might just be ok for a door”, Callum comments, “but it would be a real problem if there was something like a big roof repair. So that was starting to be a real worry.”
And although the flat had been in a quiet area when Callum bought it, over time, it had become much busier and noisier. Callum found that hard to cope with because his autism means he’s very sensitive to noise.
He decided he had to move. But he was daunted by the process of buying and selling at the same time, which he’d never done before. He contacted Shelter for advice and they suggested getting in touch with Housing Options Scotland (HOS). That was a turning-point. He contacted HOS and quickly received a call from one of their housing options brokers, Karen.
“I was kind of clueless”, he says. “I had no idea how to go about selling my flat and moving house.”
Karen suggested, as a starting point, asking a couple of estate agents to value the property before putting it on the market. Callum hadn’t realised he could do this:
“I was asking Karen the kind of things other people could easily find out through their normal social contacts.”
She also supported him through some of the difficulties in his old flat. During the covid pandemic a tenant above him had a bad water leak. There was a delay in getting it fixed because of lockdown and Calum’s ceiling ended up falling down. That was the final straw and he made up his mind to move in 2022. She put him in touch with a mortgage broker who helped him to arrange a mortgage on a new property.
“That was really helpful,” he says, “it took away a lot of the stress.”
Although it felt long, the process of selling up and buying the new flat only took about six weeks. Callum has noticed changes in how things work since buying his first flat.
“I hadn’t realised how fast the market can move,” he says.
He noted interest in two properties but was pipped at the post both times. Luckily, he was successful with a third property.
Looking back, he feels it’s worked out for the best. The flat has three outside walls and faces away from the road, so there’s very little noise. It’s a much newer property with lift access – important because of Callum’s health. And there’s a Factor on hand to deal with any maintenance and repair issues. Another bonus is that a single insurance company provides cover for all the residents in the block, making things much less stressful if something goes wrong. And all the flats have combi-boilers so there’s no risk of a flood from a large water-tank!
With the move behind him Callum is still settling into his new home but he already feels the benefit of a more peaceful environment.
“Moving house is a big step,” he adds. “Don’t be afraid to ask for guidance about how things work. If you have a disability a move can be really daunting. But just believe it can happen and it will!”