Eyesore janitor's house on sale after years of neglect

A FORMER janitor's house which has become "an eyesore" after sitting empty for more than ten years is to be sold.

The three-bedroom house, once home to Portobello High School's caretaker, has been blamed for an infestation of rats, while its overgrown weeds and boarded-up windows and doors have blighted the street for years.

Now neighbours of the Duddingston Road house are hoping things will improve after it was put on the market.

The closing date for registering interest or making offers on the family home, which went on the market at the end of August, was Friday.

For legal reasons, the council is unable to say how much interest the property attracted but said no offer had yet been accepted.

George Milligan, a former Portobello school janitor who lives in one of the two adjoining properties, is relieved that something is finally being done about the vacant house.

Mr Milligan, who has previously complained to the council about the overgrown garden and the rat infestation, said: "When I phoned up about it they told me that the boarding would be down in about a month's time.

"They have trimmed all the weeds down for the first time in ten years.

"It's about time something is happening to that house. If I had wanted to sell this place, I couldn't have been able to because the value would have dropped because of that house."

Council bosses refused to say how much they were selling the house for, but Mr Milligan said he was quoted a price of 155,000 or above when he enquired about it.

They said they had held onto the property all these years in case it was needed for the redevelopment of the existing Portobello High School.

However, with the new school due to be built on Portobello Park, council bosses said they no longer needed to retain the house.

A council spokeswoman said: "The former janitor's house at Portobello High School is no longer required for operational purposes and is being sold on the open market."

Three years ago, the school's former, janitor James Owen, who was the last occupier of the property, told the Evening News that council chiefs had forced him out of the home.

He said he wanted to buy his home of 20 years when he retired from the school, but was told he must leave the janitor's cottage and it has been neglected ever since.