Leith
Pipes and heating in a Leith tenement flat
A Leith tenement flat can sit in a Victorian stair above shops, a Georgian street or a converted warehouse, so the age of your building matters more than the postcode.
By the Pipes Up the Stair site team · how pages are checked · Updated
Leith is a mix. The council's Leith appraisal describes an old port and burgh with buildings from the 1600s right through to the 1970s, so there is no single Leith flat. Find out roughly when yours was built, and most of the plumbing questions start to answer themselves.
What sort of buildings make up Leith?
Several kinds sit side by side. Leith Walk is "characterised mainly by Victorian tenements with shops and pubs at ground floor level", while Ferry Road and Great Junction Street have a continuous line of mostly four-storey tenements over shops. The Madeira area keeps a largely Georgian character, and Georgian and Victorian warehouses have been converted into homes and offices. Pockets of 1960s and 1970s public housing also fall inside the conservation area, according to the appraisal.
Is Leith a conservation area?
Yes, and a closely managed one. Edinburgh has 50 conservation areas, and Leith is one of only two with a management plan, the other being Inverleith. Changes to the outside of a building, from a flue to a fan, are worth raising with the council first; our guide to listed buildings and conservation areas explains what usually needs consent.
Does the building's age change the lead question?
It does, and Leith spans the cut-off. Scottish Water says lead service pipes were phased out in the 1960s and made illegal in 1969, and that homes built before 1970 carry a higher chance of lead. A Victorian stair and a 1970s block may give very different answers, so do the under-sink check in lead pipes in Edinburgh and, if the colour of your water bothers you, read tap water taste and colour.
Who sorts out a drain shared with the shop downstairs?
The owners whose property it serves, under their deeds. Scottish Water treats drains within a block's own curtilage as private, and under the Tenements Act a shared pipe belongs in common to the flats it serves. Whether a ground-floor shop shares the cost depends on the title, so check before arguing; see blocked drains in a tenement and missing shares if one owner will not pay.
What if water comes through the ceiling?
Act fast, then talk to upstairs. The council's advice is to contact the neighbour first; failing that, it can sometimes force entry upstairs to stop the water. Our page on a leak into the flat below runs through the order of things, and burst pipe first steps covers your own stop valve.
Do the rules differ for renters?
The repair route does. Scottish Water tells tenants to take pipework trouble to the landlord or council when the home is rented, and since March 2024 a privately rented home must have no lead pipes, fittings or tanks in its drinking supply.
Where this comes from
- Leith conservation area character appraisal — City of Edinburgh Council: tenements, warehouses, Madeira, 1960s–70s housing
- Conservation areas — City of Edinburgh Council: 50 areas, Leith management plan
- Lead and your water — Scottish Water (archived copy of its page): lead phased out, before 1970
- Drains and sewers guide — Scottish Water (archived copy of its page): private drains within a curtilage
- Unsafe buildings and emergency repairs — City of Edinburgh Council: leaks from the flat above
- Your guide to water pipework — Scottish Water (archived copy of its page): rented homes
- Landlord guidance on lead — Scottish Water (archived copy of its page): March 2024 rule