Rented normally, it costs you £2 a month. That is £24 a year, every year you hold it.

Will it pay?Calculator

You top up £2 a month — the mortgage takes 55p of every pound of rent

Borrowing £370 less would close that shortfall — which is £370 more cash at the start, on top of the deposit.

+£669−£365−£306−£2

Rent inMortgageRunning costsShort by

The rent covers £669 of that — you cover £2

◧ market rent £669 · 104 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

£31,035 + refurb costs

And about £120 more over five years, because it loses £2 every month you hold it — before any repair. That already assumes the rent never falls.

£31,035 to buy it

~£10,764

deposit · stamp duty · solicitor · feeswe haven’t been inside

□ works not inspected

What would have to be true?

Break-even is within £5,000 of the asked price

It lands that close to the £89,950 asked — inside the step this card rounds to, and inside the confidence band on the rent it works back from. So the price asked is already about the price this rent carries, and there is no honest discount to print.

◧ worked back from the rent

What will the rent borrow?Lender test

The rent carries the whole loan — it could fall 5% 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.

£611 needed

of £643 rent

stressed at 7.5%, 145% cover

◧ rent after empty weeks £643PRA-style test

How big is it, really?The plan

The rooms are on the plan; the total is not

The plan is on file; the floor area is not.

□ no floor area published

Is it a good location?Open the map

No school rated Good or better in this postcode area

2 schools in this postcode area, none rated Good or better 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

The area is mapped as high flood risk

Flood maps cover areas, not buildings — treat it as a reason to search, not a verdict.

2 problems found · 1 came back clear · 3 we could not check · 3 do not apply to this property

■ from the flood maplisting last seen 19 Sep 2026

Which strategy wins?The ways to run it

Every way loses money — Standard rental loses least, at £2 a month

Standard rental also ties up the least cash, £41,799.

Standard rental−£2 · £41,799 in

Housing-benefit rent−£193 · £41,799 in

Each row: money kept a month, then the cash it ties up. Not compared: Rent by the room (only 2 bedrooms) · Do it up, then remortgage (pays back at the remortgage) · Short-stay let (no local short-let data) · Guaranteed council rent (no scheme in this borough) · Buy, improve & sell (pays out on sale)

◧ 2 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

−£5,030 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 29% in the price would leave nothing from a sale after selling costs, and you would still owe the lender any shortfall. That is the £41,799 you put in. The 5-year fix runs past this 5-year hold, so the rate reset comes after it.

−£41,799+£107,037−£2,676−£67,463−£130−£5,030

Cash you put inSale valueSelling costsMortgageRent lossesYou are down

◧ 2.0%/yr growth assumed