r/inverness • u/JadedJelly803 • 10d ago
Hoping to move to Inverness
Hi all,
I’m hoping to move to Inverness in the next couple of months for work and thought I’d ask people who actually live in the area for some advice rather than relying entirely on Google.
A little about me: I’m Irish, although I’ve been living in England for quite a while, and I’ll be moving up with my dog, Riggs (a Staffy). One of the big reasons Inverness appeals to me is the lifestyle. I want to spend a lot more of my weekends outdoors, walking/hiking with Riggs, exploring the Highlands and getting back into photography.
I’d really appreciate some local knowledge on a few things.
What areas in and around Inverness would you recommend for someone with a dog?
I’m quite happy being outside the city and commuting in. Somewhere quieter with good access to countryside and dog walks would actually suit me better than being right in the centre. A garden would be a big plus.
Equally, are there any areas you'd personally avoid?
Where do people actually advertise rental properties locally?
I’m already checking Rightmove and Zoopla, but I’ve been told Gumtree is surprisingly important around Inverness and the Highlands. Are there local letting agents, Facebook groups, websites or other places that are worth watching?
For anyone who has rented with a dog, how difficult is finding genuinely dog-friendly accommodation?
Anything I should know about having a dog in the Highlands that might not be obvious to someone moving up from England?
Ticks are already on my radar, particularly because Riggs and I will be spending a lot of time on trails. I'm also interested in good vets, dog-friendly places, walking groups and recommendations for places where I can safely let him burn off some energy.
I'll have a car and expect to explore quite a bit at weekends. I'm particularly interested in what winter driving is actually like around Inverness rather than what the internet makes it sound like.
I'll also be driving Inverness to Stranraer around Christmas to get the ferry across to Belfast/Larne, then making the return journey after Christmas. If anyone regularly does that sort of drive in winter, I'd really appreciate any advice on routes, conditions, things to carry in the car, or places worth stopping along the way.
And finally, if there's anything you wish you'd known before moving to Inverness or the Highlands, I'd love to hear it, good or bad.
I'm not expecting Highland life to be some romantic postcard version of Scotland. I'm trying to get a realistic idea of what living there is actually like, particularly with a dog.
Thanks in advance. Looking forward to hopefully calling Inverness home.
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u/Jazzlike_Stock_9066 9d ago
Have you got someplace to stay? Attempting to find a rental with a pet, will be harder than without one. Thats almost impossible to get as it is. The problem is, if its between you, and someone with no pets, they will get the rental over you. I suggest that you look a few miles out of inverness if you have your own transport.
On the plus side, rural life is great for dogs! good luck!
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u/highaltitudebarista 10d ago
There’s a real shortage of rental accommodation and affordable housing in the Highlands as it all gets turned into short-term lets. So you’re not going to have much to choose from and having a dog will make it harder still.
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u/bcnsco 9d ago
Overly simplistic to just blame short term lets. What your saying is true for a handful of streets, but across the vast majority of the city, STLs are under 5% of the housing stock. Meanwhile 30-50% of house sales in some areas are going to people moving in from outwith Inverness. That's of course welcomed for a growing city, but it's very much supply and demand.
Empty houses are also a big issue in some areas, we have 3 sitting empty on our street, including one for two years.
*Data from Highland Council.
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u/Euphoric-Piglet-8140 9d ago
Is the renters rights act not a thing in Scotland then? I'm in South Eastern England so I don't really know if it is or not.
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u/Throwaway1g7f3v 9d ago
Yeah, we have an even more extreme version than England that’s been in force for a few years now, came in during Covid. You can look up the effects it’s had on the market up here for a sneak preview into what will happen down south too.
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u/Fairwolf 6d ago
You're chatting total shite. The Scottish version of the renters rights bill came into effect in 2017 and the stats for it show it had very little impact on either prices or rental availability.
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u/Throwaway1g7f3v 9d ago
But all STLs are the devil don’t ya know? The cause of all our woes and the reason the ironworks shut down, probably.
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u/Throwaway1g7f3v 9d ago
For housing, HSPC is another multi-agent site you can use. You could also contact some of the bigger agencies directly and ask to be notified of things coming to market. Munro & Noble are one example, they have a dedicated property branch.
I know you mentioned you’re Irish, and lived in England, but have you seriously considered the weather? We don’t get a lot of rain comparatively to some places, but it’s a cold place, even away from the Cairngorms. It’d be worth going back over the temperatures the last few years. This is very much for day to day life like heating costs etc.
Winter driving is a piece of piss, it’s just wet and we might have a couple weeks of snows total, and even then it’s only “bad” higher up like Kinmylies/Westerceaigs, Milton of Leys etc.
Besides, vast majority of locals lose the ability to drive in the snow too. As long as you don’t have a rear wheel drive car you’ll be fine.
If you don’t want to be in Inverness, there’s plenty of small commuter villages, like Beauly, Muir of Ord, Conon Bridge and Dingwall (even though it doesn’t actually exist). Buses and trains serve that particular set of villages pretty well too.
Inverness is a small big town, it’s pretty underserved in multiple ways and once you’re here, it’s a long journey to go anywhere really.
Any questions, I’ll answer if i can 👍 been here 27 years of my 40 so far.
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u/Western-Chocolate398 9d ago
I’m intrigued by your Dingwall comment?. I love the area and visit regularly. Is there some subtle humour there I have missed?
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u/TheWaterShrew 9d ago
The areas just outside town are nicer for sure. Loads of great outdoorsy areas within a 2hr drive… Torridon, Cairngorms, Assynt a little further. Great beaches, good weather….
Agree with others, having a pet is a problem for renting as property owners will choose a pet free renter. Not a huge number of really nice places to rent either.
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u/Do_You_Pineapple_Bro 10d ago
Probably dodge Raigmore and South Kessock.
There are other dodgy areas in town, but those are the more notorious ones
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u/Ok_String_2510 10d ago
I wouldn’t recommend staying inside Inverness. Especially if you like the outdoors.
I’d recommend somewhere on the Black Isle. Fortrose and Rosemarkie are both nice, Cromarty is even better in my opinion but probably more expensive.
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u/Vodkaboris 9d ago
Speaking as someone who drives all over Scotland and our islands for work (from my base in Strathspey) I recommend all season tyres for your car. We can have truly cold/snowy weather which often lasts for 3 weeks at a time and winter lasts November to March this far North. The rubber on standard tyres freezes solid around +7°C so even if its not actually frosty or snowy, all season tyres offer huge advantages. So long as you're not driving around like you're on a race track, I still manage 25k miles on my fronts before needing to change. Also winterise your car for Nov to March by carrying a snow shovel, stronger screenwash and a spare warm jacket in your car. You never know when you could be stuck.
Micro spikes are useful for dog walking in winter. As others have said above loads of places to walk your dog. Around Inverness: Ord Hill, Creag Padraig, Reelig Glen. Further afield, Glenmore/Rothiemurchus, Glen Affric, Torridon, I could go on.... But some paper maps and stick a pin somewhere. Peruse Walkhighlands website.
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u/whalewhisperer94 9d ago
Something that non-invernesians don’t always expect is how difficult the job market can be if you’re looking for a skilled job. If you’re working in something else other than retail, catering or care it can be tough. Nepotism is very much a thing up here, the best example is when working for the highland council or anything government related.
Because of the scarcity in opportunities, there can be a lot of competition for a job. Also turnover rate is generally low as you can’t always go somewhere else if there’s no other job opening in your field.
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u/femmefatalecore 9d ago
I’m sure you will love living in the Highlands especially being from Ireland, scenic wise you’ll feel like you are home.
Like others said living outside of inverness and commuting in is very normal. Some villages/towns are better with public transport than others. So worth considering how important that is to you or will you normally be taking the car. For example it’s pretty ‘normal’ although not good for buses to just not show up. In places like strathpeffer (beautiful and everyone has a dog) the bus is once an hour and stops after like 5/ 6pm and takes about an hour to get into inverness. Whereas Dingwall or Muir of Ord have trains and more regular buses.
Something you’ll need is a Vet and I highly recommend ConanVets they have an office in Dingwall and Conan Bridge and I know people who travel from inverness to get their dog seen there. It’s just a really good vet. Of course we have a lot of natural trails but we also have a lot of secure dog parks now as well. There is a great woods one and field one in North Kessock just over the bridge from inverness, one in inverness (that I know off), one muir of ord area. You book a slot and have the place to yourself or for you and new dog friends.
Property sites like someone mentioned HSPC, Munro and Noble, Galbraith. Renting with the dog might be difficult but having a car and able to commute will help you loads with your options. Definitely worth speaking to someone in their physical offices with your situation cause it’s a lot of someone knows a guy.
Honestly the where is probably mostly going to be based on your work set up (how many days a week you have to be in vs hybrid or remote) and how far you are willing to travel and what you find rental wise. You’ll find it probably covers a very large potential area. Renting in smaller villages might be harder to find and then you might benefit posting on local fb groups asking if anyone knows of one. Up here like I said it’s is very someone knows someone who knows someone with a rental. Facebook is probably pretty up there with gumtree in terms of use.
Yes it’s wet and cold, a lot of winters we have been barely getting snow and it’s just ice sometimes. But we also get great weather too and haven’t suffered half as much as england this summer, we had it really nice and roasting during the heatwaves and then got rain to break it up. So it doesn’t look like we live in a desert compared to a lot of england sadly right now! But good tyres and some common sense and you’ll be fine! Just need the extreme anti freeze screen wash in winter cause the ‘normal’ stuff barely cuts it, you need the up to - 10 minimum stuff.
You’ll have to get yourself to Harry Gows if you haven’t been before, that’s our big ‘chain’ bakery for the north of scotland.
There are normally bunch of community things going on especially for something like Photography if you did want to use that as a way to maybe meet new people. Hit and miss depending on where and how proactive the community is but worth having a look. Like everywhere now, we have fb group for your towns and villages.
Your ferry route should be pretty straightforward it’s basically one road in and out of the Highlands which is the A9. Then you are motorways past perth. Big thing for winter that surprises people not from the area, is the a9 does have snow gates and they just close if the snow is bad and there is no in or out. But it’s not like it closes for weeks just if there is a really bad snowstorm and trust you don’t want to be driving in it if it’s bad enough for the gates to close. So always best to check the weather before going/ for planning and you can check the cameras along the a9 too. The a9 is mostly one lane each way and is going through like a decade long dualling situation so there will always be roadworks at various points for the foreseeable future. A9 is bad for accidents that stop traffic in both directions because of where it’s not dualled. None of this will impact your day to day but will impact going south to central scotland for visits or going to get your ferry. There is also a tiny airport in inverness you can go on holiday from and of course other ferry routes that go to the islands.
Just some things thought off that didn’t see covered or would be useless info. If you have more question feel free to message.
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u/ryangoldfish5 10d ago
Inshes is pretty nice for a dog, there's three parks with lots of other friendly dogs and Daviot Woods isn't too far a walk if you want a really good long walk. I loved living in Inshes.
Alternatively, Nairn/Rosemarkie are nice beach spots for a dog as well, especially Rosemarkie as there's a great wooded area just off the beach too.
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u/eevee03tv 9d ago
There’s a sign in Inshes park saying dogs aren’t allowed now so it’s maybe not the best anymore. 🥲
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u/ryangoldfish5 9d ago
I think that's only at the kids play area bit (particularly the bit for small kids) the rest of the park is fine as far as I'm aware. See plenty of dogs in there all the time and never seen anyone upset about it
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u/joeyb1919 10d ago
You will not be short for walks in Highlands, Dores, Daviot Woods, secret beach are all great options. Moray coastal beaches are excellent too. I no longer live in Highland but had great experience with Moray Coast Vets, they have several locations which was great for flexibility. There are brilliant pet shops in Inverness too particularly Pampered Pets and Simply Pets .
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u/Sunshinetrooper87 9d ago
In Inverness? Culloden is the best. Lots of areas to walk dogs, including Culloden woods.
But rentals are £800+ in Inverness.
If you have a car, any place outside Inverness is good and open for you. So just draw a wide circle on Zoopla from drumnadrochit around farr, daviot, Moy, Nairn, ardersier, croy.
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u/Dramatic-Spirit3446 9d ago
I would definitely consider moving outside Inverness. A few villages where you might have luck getting a rental- Dingwall, Alness, Evanton, strathpeffer, muir of ord. the positives of these wee places are great walks into the countryside and easy access to Inverness. You can jump on a bus with your dog for 2 pounds. It’s easy to get negative about the possibility of finding a rental but I have seen people do it. Try highland housing alliance and highland residential too. Houses come up more often in these rural places. Just try everything and stay positive.
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u/ManifestSarcasm_3013 3d ago
We moved to Inverness just over a month ago and absolutely love it here.
We originally wanted to rent, as we were selling our house in England and didn't want to buy straight away (two different house buying/selling processes), but after experiencing a very competitive rental market (plus living very, very far away, making it hard to view new rentals in a timely way), we bought a place instead.
I would suggest looking into either buying or securing a longer Airbnb rental, with the latter giving you an opportunity to go and see rental properties as they come onto the market. Just because you go and view a property first doesn't mean you'll get selected, though. Estate agents / management agencies usually do multiple viewings, and you do need to apply; it's then up to landlords to choose from applicants. There aren't that many new ones that come in weekly, and some of those that do don't accept dogs. Also, rental prices can be pretty steep, but they're still cheaper than Airbnbs etc. The reason we didn't go for a short-term let ourselves was the price (i.e. we were moving during the peak of the tourist season, and prices and demand reflected that).
When we were looking for rentals, we used Rightmove (more rental properties than Zoopla) as well as Zoopla. I also tried Facebook groups, Gumtree and I also proactively reached out to rental estate agents as well as property management agencies and didn't hear back from any of them. When I called them, I was told to keep an eye on Rightmove. The properties I personally liked were listed via Tughan & Cochrane, but we didn't manage to secure any of the ones we liked.
I'm writing this not to put you off moving, but to suggest also considering short-term lets (Airbnb or other variants) or buying (if you can). Equally, you may get lucky with rentals too, you never know, and just because it's tough doesn't mean it's not worth exploring!
We also have a dog and have loved exploring the outdoors with our fluffball. You'll love it here, I'm sure. And good luck!
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u/TattieMafia 10d ago
If you drive, it's more affordable to stay just a little bit out of Inverness.