Moving to Edinburgh

2POSTS

7 years ago

Dear all,

My husband and I are coming from Switzerland to stay in Edinburgh for one year. We will be staying at a Hotel at first while looking for a flat to rent. How does it work for foreighners to rent a place here? What kind of documents one must submit? I read that in order to rent a flat one need to have a bank account in Scotland but in order to open a Bank account one must have an address in Scotland, is that correct? How should we deal with that issue?

Thank you so much for your answers and informations,

All the best,

Marie

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Cynic UK/Netherlands Expert

8114POSTS

7 years ago

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

As a Swiss citizen, you may have a problem opening a UK bank account; this link will take you to an article that may help you solve this problem.

With regards to documents, you don't need a visa to live in the UK, but you'll be dealing with private landlords; they may ask you for proof of identity (passport), but unlike many countries in the EU (maybe Switzerland - I'm not sure), the UK does not have any registration scheme that you have to go through; this link may help you regarding renting property in Scotland.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

MarieHenny30 Member

2POSTS

7 years ago

This helps a lot!
Many thanks!

All the best,

Marie

worldlywanderer Contributor

111POSTS

7 years ago

There is an onus on private landlords to ensure their tenants are not living in the UK illegally but with your passport that's no problem. The opening of an account with a UK bank depends very much on the bank. In my experience you need an international group which understand the needs of people like yourself and I have banked for twenty years with HSBC for this reason. They have two branches in Edinburgh, Hanover Street which has a counter and Princes Street which does not - important if you need to change cash! Ideally you would have an overseas account with HSBC and the process is simple.

Bear in mind also that Edinburgh has been a cosmopolitan city for centuries and understands the benefit of looking after foreign visitors. It is an annual occurance atht a queue of overseas students arrives in Edinburgh to attend university and they all manage to open accounts.

My advice is to pick three or four large banks on the web and email their Edinburgh branches to disocver how they will deal with you.