Our lives are being ruined by these louts in flats on stag and hen nights

RESIDENTS of an upmarket housing development in the Old Town say their lives are being ruined by "louts" after stag and hen parties began using flats in the complex.

Those living next to the properties in Lochend Close, between Calton Road and the Royal Mile, say they are forced to put up with drunkenness, noise and anti-social behaviour almost every weekend.

The two £250,000 flats, which are owned by private landlords and advertised by Festival Apartments, are let out to groups of up to 14.

Bruce Borthwick, 64, a retired vet who has lived in the building for six years, said: "The police have had to be called because of the noise that's being made. It's basically loutish behaviour.

"There's the ladettes and the totally inconsiderate and repugnant behaviour you get with groups of guys. Their behaviour produces a very antisocial environment for the rest of the people in the development."

Festival Apartment's website is used as a portal for more than 600 short-term lets throughout the city. But Ian Scott, the company's director, said the flats at Lochend Close had never been marketed at stag parties.

He said: "We've never had reports from the police about Lochend Close. Large groups can sometimes be well behaved and sometimes they're not.

"We rent these flats out to people celebrating 50th birthdays, that kind of thing. These two flats are worth a total of £500,000; we don't want people knocking hell out of them."

He added that his firm was ending its involvement with the properties after being contacted by the city council with residents' complaints and would be handing over the lease next month.

Earlier this month it emerged that the number of stag and hen parties coming to the Capital has shot up dramatically as revellers turn their back on foreign trips.

Bars, hotels and outdoor activity centres have seen the number of party bookings soar by up to a quarter this year.

The rise is being seen as a side-effect of the credit crunch and poor exchange rates, with many people opting against the long weekends abroad which have become popular in recent years.

Business leaders have in the past warned that the Capital's stag and hen night culture is spiralling out of control and could actually be damaging the city's economy.

Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce says it has received a number of complaints about the impact of drunken behaviour in the city centre.

A spokesman for the city council said renting out flats in such a way was classed as holiday lets and therefore not subject to licensing.