Rented normally, you'd make about £479 a month.

Will it pay?Calculator

£479 of every £1,990 is yours to keep, each month

You keep 24p of every pound of rent. The mortgage takes 33p.

+£1,990−£650−£748−£112£479

Rent inMortgageRunning costsTaxProfit

Rent £1,990, modelled from 21 nearby lettings

□ service charge not published2 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

£54,100 + refurb costs

£14,100 of that never comes back — stamp duty, solicitor and lender fees.

£54,100 to buy it

~£23,506

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

□ 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 £160,000 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

What will the rent borrow?Lender test

The rent carries the whole loan — it could fall 43% 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.

£1,088 needed

of £1,913 rent

stressed at 7.5%, 145% cover

◧ rent after empty weeks £1,913PRA-style test

Who has to say yes?Council record

Barking and Dagenham council approves 4% — 1% on a cautious reading

A council-wide rate across 51 HMO decisions, not a forecast for this address.

4%

0%50%100%

never approvesalways approves

the band is the cautious reading of the same 51 decisions — as low as 1%

■ Article 4 — planning permission requireddecision record held for this authority

How big is it, really?The plan

Measured off the plan, not by a surveyor 783 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

No school rated Good or better in this postcode area

3 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

You would need a licence from the council first

Letting without the council’s licence is an offence, and the fee is in no figure here.

3 problems found · 4 came back clear · 2 we could not check

■ from council licensing registerlisting last seen 15 Sep 2026

Which strategy wins?The ways to run it

Nothing here beats a plain let

Let it to the council: £1,080 a year less, but they keep paying when it is empty.

Standard rental+£479 · £77,606 in

Guaranteed council rent+£389 · £77,606 in

Housing-benefit rent+£84 · £77,606 in

Rent by the room−£161 · £77,606 in

Each row: money kept a month, then the cash it ties up. Not compared: 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)

◧ 4 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

+£22,241 after five years on the cash you put in, before tax on the sale

More 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 30% in the price would leave nothing from a sale after selling costs, and you would still owe the lender any shortfall. That is the £77,606 you put in. The 5-year fix runs past this 5-year hold, so the rate reset comes after it.

−£77,606+£193,522−£4,838−£120,000+£31,163+£22,241

Cash you put inSale valueSelling costsMortgageRent keptYou walk with

◧ 2.0%/yr growth assumed