Rented normally, you'd make about £39 a month.

Will it pay?Calculator

£39 of every £1,217 is yours to keep, each month

You keep 3p of every pound of rent. The mortgage takes 45p.

+£1,217−£548−£621−£9£39

Rent inMortgageRunning costsTaxProfit

Rent £1,217, modelled from 110 nearby lettings within 500 m

◧ market rent £1,217 · 110 comps2 empty weeks a year assumed

What if I change my assumptions?The dials

At the asking price, 25% deposit, 6.50% charged

Change any of these 16 and every card on this page changes with it. The 6.50% is the 5.75% quoted plus a company premium.

◧ worked out from local rents

What will it cost me to buy?Breakdown

£45,725 + refurb costs

£11,975 of that never comes back — stamp duty, solicitor and lender fees.

£45,725 to buy it

deposit · stamp duty · solicitor · fees~£7,487, unseen

□ works not inspected

What would have to be true?

Nothing — it works at the asking price

The rent covers the mortgage, the running costs and the tax at the £135,000 asked, so there is no discount this card has to name. A lower price would be upside, not a condition.

◧ worked back from the rent

Is the price right?The deeds

Last sold for £163,260 in 2008

Nothing nearby is comparable, but asking is 17% less than the £163,260 paid for it in 2008.

□ this address’s own deeds, no comparable saleHM Land Registry Price Paid Data

Can we trust the rent?Rent evidence

Nearby lettings back this rent

We hold too few nearby asking rents to cross-check this figure, so nothing here confirms it a second way.

+100 more

our bar: 10 within 500 m

our own middle half£1,178–£1,257/mo

■ 110 lettings within 500 m□ no nearby asks to cross-checkAdvertised rents, not signed tenancies

What will the rent borrow?Lender test

The rent carries the whole loan — it could fall 22% and still cover it

Your deposit is what limits this one, not the rent. Lenders test the rent at 7.5% and need it to cover 145% of the payment.

£918 needed

of £1,170 rent

stressed at 7.5%, 145% cover

◧ rent after empty weeks £1,170PRA-style test

How big is it, really?The plan

Measured off the plan, not by a surveyor 450 sq ft

The area comes off the plan, not a survey. Open for what that means.

□ area off the floorplan — not a survey

Is it a good location?Open the map

Manchester City Centre, M50 3SA

1 of 2 schools in this postcode area rated Good or Outstanding and flood risk checking… — open for the map, the schools and the rest.

Article 4Planning permission required to let by the room

■ postcode area, not this address

What could kill thisThe checks

£2,312 a year in charges for the building, owed even when nobody is living there

The contract the property is sold under sets these charges, and they can go up over the years.

2 problems found · 2 came back clear · 3 we could not check · 2 do not apply to this property

■ from the listinglisting last seen 18 Sep 2026

Which strategy wins?The ways to run it

Nothing here beats a plain let

Let it to the council: £1,968 a year less, but they keep paying when it is empty.

Standard rental+£39 · £53,212 in

Guaranteed council rent−£125 · £53,212 in

Housing-benefit rent−£364 · £53,212 in

Each row: money kept a month, then the cash it ties up. Not compared: Rent by the room (only 1 bedroom) · Do it up, then remortgage (pays back at the remortgage) · Short-stay let (no local short-let data) · Buy, improve & sell (pays out on sale)

◧ 3 ways, one measureranked on money kept each month, at the asking price

What would you walk away with, after 5 years?The five-year sums

−£1,372 after five years on the cash you put in, before tax on the sale

Less than the same cash would have made in a savings account, after tax on the interest. The savings account’s capital is not at risk; the property’s is. A fall of about 26% in the price would leave nothing from a sale after selling costs, and you would still owe the lender any shortfall. That is the £53,212 you put in. The 5-year fix runs past this 5-year hold, so the rate reset comes after it.

−£53,212+£154,424−£3,861−£101,250+£2,526−£1,372

Cash you put inSale valueSelling costsMortgageRent keptYou are down

◧ 2.0%/yr growth assumed