West Lothian Council

Property to rent in West Lothian

West Lothian is the M8 corridor between Edinburgh and Glasgow: Livingston at its centre, Bathgate, Broxburn and Linlithgow around it, and railway lines that reach Waverley in about twenty minutes and Glasgow in under an hour. It is the cheapest of the four Lothian councils to buy into, with a large new-build pipeline at Winchburgh, Calderwood and Heartlands, so the stock is younger than Midlothian’s and the gross yields are the strongest on our patch.

Two railway lines carry the demand. The Bathgate line stops at Uphall, Livingston North, Bathgate, Armadale and Blackridge on its way between Edinburgh and Glasgow; the Shotts line serves Kirknewton, Livingston South, West Calder, Addiewell and Fauldhouse; and Linlithgow sits on the main Edinburgh to Glasgow line with the fastest trains of all. St John’s Hospital in Livingston is one of the county’s largest employers, and the Livingston business parks, Edinburgh Airport and the distribution sheds along the M8 supply the rest. The new towns at Winchburgh, Calderwood by East Calder and Heartlands at Whitburn add homes every year, and their first owners are a steady source of properties to let. The ONS Price Index of Private Rents put the average rent at £912 a month in July 2026, with a two-bedroom home averaging £837, against the lowest register median of the four Lothian councils: the arithmetic behind the strongest gross yields in the Lothians. HMO licensing is rare outside Livingston, so almost every let is a single household.