Where to live in leeds city centre?

[Paul-M]

Hello everyone, I am moving to Leeds in August. I currently live in Scotland and do not know Leeds very well. I shall be working in either St James or Leeds General hospital for a year (yet to find out which) and would ideally like to rent a modern 1 bedroom flat near the city centre. Budget would be up to £700 per month. Which areas should I be looking at and where should I avoid!?

Any help/advice is much appreciated!

Edited by Paul-M on Friday 19th June 21:39

[speed8]

Can't help with individual flats but I'm another exiled Jock in Leeds. To be honest you can't go wrong with any of them in terms of distance. If it's city centre then it's at most a ten minute walk to either of they places. It's not a big centre like Glasgow.
A friend has just been through the renting process for about the same budget. I'll ask her what ones she looked at.

[skip_1]

Hi Paul,

Velocity and West Point would suit your needs. The area of Clarence Dock is nice and where most of these flats are. Parking often costs extra in the Leeds developments, however as said above anywhere in the centre is walkable in 15 mins. You can probably negotiate some rents down too, as there are lots of flats empty in Leeds.

Leeds letting web or Gumtree's Leeds flats section would be good starting points.

http://www.lettingweb.com/properties/regions/engla...

http://leeds.gumtree.com/cgi-bin/list_postings.pl?...

[11SJC]

have a pal with a few city centre flats in the clarence dock section

[Captain Beaky]

The_Doc works at the LGI (and possibly Jimmy's) so he might have some wise words on where to live and/or avoid.

[blackcab]

Speak To James Douglas at Nest lettings, he is my cousin and will sort you something really decent out - a lot stood empty at moment in leeds so some cracking deals

[MonkeyBusiness]

Does it have to be Leeds centre?

[gemini]

"and would ideally like to rent a modern 1 bedroom flat near the city centre."

What do you think?

[philmots]

Central i'd be looking at Clarence Dock. A little bit out, Chappel Allerton or Roundhay?

[speed8]

Roundhay is my neck of the woods and is nice but I guess since you're looking at city centre you're after easy access to nightlife and a short walk home from the bars.
Chapel Allerton is decent with it's own social scene. There's a few modern flats there and a number of houses converted into flats. Loads of buses to the city centre and only takes about 5 or 10 mins depending on time of day.

I would say avoid Chapeltown or Harehills for your first experience of Leeds. Where are you coming from in Scotland?

[The_Doc]

Captain Beaky said:

The_Doc works at the LGI (and possibly Jimmy's) so he might have some wise words on where to live and/or avoid.

avoid Jimmys



my Corrado was broken into three times in the same car park in 18months.

Seriously though, you should haggle haggle haggle over city centre flats in Leeds. There's supposed to be something like a 3x oversupply making it a massive buyers market.

I'd view something real swanky like a penhouse suite, as close as possible to the train station and not miles down the canalside as some of the developments are. Something they're asking £1200/month for...

then offer them £700.

[The_Doc]

what you doing in the NHS in Leeds, Paul-M?

[Hobo]

£800/850 per month will get you a very nice 2 bed/2 bath apartment at Clarence Docks. Get someone to share with & you're sorted.

[julianm]

Steer clear of most of Headingley unless you enjoy being woken @ 3am by students.....

[mcanny]

As has been said there is a huger oversupply issue in Leeds at the moment and they are still building, you should be able to get something nice for your budget.

Lots to choose from around the centre, new build, converted mills, scary places, nice places, nice places next to scary ones... some ideas of what's available:

http://www.cityliving.co.uk/rentals_homepage.php

Try and avoid Linley & Simpson as agents if you can, they won't think twice about letting the landlord take your deposit when you move out even if their own documentation highlights the problem with the place existed before you moved in.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/find.h...

Will you need parking? Can be a bit more expensive if you need a space of your own.

Edited by mcanny on Monday 22 June 21:01

[bigian64]

for half that budget you could rent a house outside of the centre some where like pudsey that has a bus right up to st james`s, or you could even spend the money you save on parking st jamses has a large multi story with it and i think the staff get free or cheap parking any way

[Paul-M]

Thanks for all the ideas everyone, will be calling up some agents tomorrow to arrange viewings. There are quite a few places at Clarence Dock’s which look interesting but not sure if parking is available there, and that is something any accommodation must have!

The Doc, I am starting core surgical training at CT1 level. I see from your profile you are a surgeon, what specialty is that you are in? I shall be doing 6 months T&O and 6 months Cardiac surgery.

Edited by Paul-M on Monday 22 June 23:56

[philmots]

I think at Clarence Dock you can rent spots in the multi-story that's used for the Royal Armouries, although i'm sure they're the wrong side of £100pcm.

[The_Doc]

Paul-M said:

The Doc, I am starting core surgical training at CT1 level. I see from your profile you are a surgeon, what specialty is that you are in? I shall be doing 6 months T&O and 6 months Cardiac surgery.

I'm an SpR5 (ST7) in Trauma and Orthopaedics.

Edited by The_Doc on Tuesday 23 June 20:38

[KimmyM]

I live in Kirkstall (currently have a spare room to let) alot less then £700pcm...

My friend lived in a flat at clarence doc for £350, she's just moved out the appartment, I would strongly recommend going on GumTree and finding a private landlord... theres NO POINT spending £700pcm on a one bedroomed flat (just my opinion tho)
I work at West One and been to see a couple of the flats there, very impressive and spacious.. only a short walk to train station and bars and also LGI is just up the road.