London · RM7 0YD · 3-bed
Valentines Way, Romford, RM7
© OpenStreetMap · click to open in maps
Asking price
£525,000
Verdict
Worth a closer look — area data is mixed
What you could do with it
Estimated gross yields from current rental comps. Numbers are pre-cost — service, voids, mortgage, management still come off these.
Standard BTL
£2,200/mo
5.0% gross yield
Open-market tenant on a 12-month AST.
HMO (rooms)
Best fit£2,572/mo
5.9% gross yield
4–6 individual tenants, shared living. Highest yield, most management.
⚠ Article 4 area — HMO conversion needs planning consent.
LHA / Section 8
£1,945/mo
4.4% gross yield
Council-paid tenant. Stable rent, longer tenancies, slight discount to market.
Council lease
£1,653/mo
3.8% gross yield
3–5 yr guaranteed-rent lease to a housing association. Hands-off.
Who is this for?
Quick read across the buyer personas. ✅ = good fit · ⚠ = workable with caveats · ❌ = look elsewhere.
Family home
3-bed but EPC unknown — factor retrofit cost or budget for it.
Standard BTL
5.0% gross — tight; works only with low costs / cheap finance.
HMO (rooms)
5.9% HMO yield + Article 4 — slow + expensive to convert.
Buy + rent later
Rents would more than cover BTL mortgage costs if life changes.
The numbers
England (SDLT) · 75% LTV mortgage at 5.5% over 25 years (capital repayment).
Stamp duty
First-time buyer
£5,000
Home mover
£13,750
2nd home / BTL
£40,000
Mortgage @ 75% LTV
- Loan
- £393,750
- Deposit
- £131,250
- Per month
- £2,418
Cash you'd need to walk in (deposit + investor SDLT, before legal/survey): £171,250
Should you pay this?
City-wide stats vary too much within the 3-bed homes segment to give you a confident £ comparison. A 3-bed home in a quieter postcode can sit £200k+ apart from one in a hot postcode just down the road.
Before bidding: walk the street, pull HM Land Registry sold prices for this postcode sector, and check what genuinely-similar homes have actually transacted at over the last 12 months.
What it'd rent for
£2,200/month5.03% gross yield
Based on 72,459 live rentals in London · 3-bed homes here average £1,867/mo.
Most landlords need 5%+ gross to break even after costs in this area, so this is a decent fallback if your plans shift.
Property features
- []
Loading nearby sold…
5-year price trend
Crime risk
Flood risk
Schools & Ofsted
No schools indexed yet for this postcode sector. The official sources below cover every UK postcode.
Catchments aren't published nationally; many schools use distance-from-school as the deciding factor. The links above give you the official data — only the local authority can confirm a specific year's catchment boundary.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
HMO licensing
£825 – £1,500typical UK HMO fee, 5-year licence
3-bed property. Mandatory licensing kicks in at 5+ unrelated occupants. Below that, a licence is only required if the council runs an additional or selective scheme — the link below is the way to check.
The council's HMO page lists the current mandatory fee plus any additional / selective scheme that catches smaller HMOs.
Find borough HMO licensing page on gov.ukMandatory licensing applies UK-wide for 5+ sharer HMOs (Housing Act 2004). Scotland licenses 3+ sharers; Wales also requires Rent Smart Wales registration for every landlord.
Area pulse
- Inside an Article 4 area — HMO conversion needs planning consent (don't assume you can split it).
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