'Uninhabitable' Aberdeen home to be renovated into eight-bed Airbnb

An “uninhabitable” granite home on Aberdeen’s King Street will be completely renovated and brought back to life as an eight-bed guest house.

The derelict property sits between Linksfield Road and Pittodrie Place, and has been sitting empty for around a decade.

It was put up for auction last year with bids starting from £65,000, and Tarun Dureja was the successful top bidder.

After taking ownership of the building, Mr Dureja created a grand plan for the site and has pledged to make a “significant” investment to bring it back into use.

His proposal went before the city council’s planning committee this morning.

Under the massive renovation project, eight en-suite rooms would be formed for visitors to let out on a short-term basis.

A dilapidated extension to the back of the “unmortgageable” building will be replaced and a new garage would be built, with cycle storage for guests added too.

Meanwhile, the garden grounds will be transformed with new paving, hedging and trees.

A boundary wall that had been damaged by a tree that has since been felled will also be reinstated.

But the proposal wasn’t too popular with the neighbours and ahead of the meeting, 11 letters of objection were submitted to the local authority.

Those opposing the guest house feared it could create a potential disturbance with noise, anti-social behaviour, and a loss of privacy.

Some thought there wasn’t enough car parking and believed guests could cause congestion on Pittodrie Lane, which would be made worse during events at nearby Pittodrie Stadium.

But despite these concerns, council planners backed the development as it would see a vacant building in use once again and could bring economic benefits to the city.

Mr Dureja attended the Town House meeting to make a case for his ambitious project.

He told councillors he moved to Aberdeen 21 years ago to study at Aberdeen University, and after completing his Master’s degree, he began his property journey in 2009.

Now, he runs an estate agency and factoring company in the city with his wife Shahana and has done so for the last 10 years.

He explained that his wife runs the short-term let side of the business, Silver City Abode Limited, and is a Superhost on Airbnb.

Mr Dureja said: “We are well versed with the short-term licensing rules, regulations and compliances, and we are very mindful of neighbors.

“This project will help us contribute to the local economy.

“We will be employing a lot of tradesmen to get the project ready, and once it’s ready we’ll have site managers, gardeners, tradesmen, maintenance staff, laundry, so we would be generating a lot of employment there.”

Mr Dureja argued that being so close to Aberdeen University and Aberdeen Sports Village worked to his advantage.

He explained: “Aberdeen’s property market in the last 20 years, since I’ve been a landlord, has seen a lot of ups and downs, and I think the city has a promising future.

“Given the opportunity to develop this property, we would cater to not only the families of University of Aberdeen students but also to tourists coming from all over the world.

“We get tourists from, believe me or not, Australia, US and Canada, and also athletes at the Sports Village.”

Councillor John Cooke queried how the proposed guest house would operate, specifically if it would have a staffed front desk to deal with visitors.

The landlord revealed that the new rear extension would house an office and laundry, so a property manager would be there to answer and address any concerns.

But while the office would only be staffed during the day to start with, Mr Dureja said he was open to making that 24-hours if it was required.

Meanwhile, councillor Neil Copland asked how long visitors would be able to stay at the guest house, and if he would provide his contact details to neighbours for any out of hours problems.

In response, Mr Dureja explained they would be typical Airbnb bookings ranging from a day to a week, and would “absolutely” be willing to provide contact information.

Councillor Sandra Macdonald questioned what guests would do for food and drink while staying at the venue.

She was told each room would have a small kitchenette with units and potentially a microwave, but that would be the extent of it.

Mr Dureja also told the committee that security cameras would be installed around the site to ensure the safety of guests.

And he revealed there was another good reason to install CCTV.

“There has been about five incidents, three of which have been reported to the police in the last year we’ve owned the property,” he explained.

“This was derelict for about a decade and there has been anti-social behaviour so we will have a full-on 24-hour surveillance.”

After having all of their concerns addressed, the committee unanimously granted the application.