Rented normally, it costs you £792 a month. That is £9,504 a year, every year you hold it.

Will it pay?Calculator

The mortgage alone costs more than the whole rent — you top up £792 a month

It is £792 a month short. Borrowing £152,071 less would close that shortfall — which is £152,071 more cash at the start, on top of the deposit.

£1,133 mortgage

£712 rent in£792 short

◧ market rent £712 · 16 comps2 empty weeks a year assumed

What if I change my assumptions?The dials

At the asking price, 25% deposit, 6.25% charged

Change any of these 16 and every card on this page changes with it. The 6.25% is the 5.50% quoted plus a company premium.

◧ worked out from local rents

What will it cost me to buy?Breakdown

£99,000 + refurb costs

And about £47,522 more over five years, because it loses £792 every month you hold it — before any repair. That already assumes the rent never falls.

£99,000 to buy it

deposit · stamp duty · solicitor · fees~£2,070, unseen

□ works not inspected

What would have to be true?

We cannot price this without a postcode

Which purchase tax applies — stamp duty, LBTT or land transaction tax — is decided by the nation the address sits in, and this listing carries no postcode to resolve it. Rather than assume England and then price to the pound off it, this card does not answer. The agent can give you the postcode.

□ no postcode on the listing

What will the rent borrow?Lender test

The rent carries £75,544 of the £217,500 loan

That £141,956 is yours to find on top of the deposit. Tested at 125% instead of 145% — a company or a basic-rate taxpayer usually is — the gap is £129,869. Lenders test the rent at 7.5% and need it to cover 145% of the payment.

£1,971 needed

more than the £685 rent

stressed at 7.5%, 145% cover

◧ rent after empty weeks £685PRA-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

Reading

No schools in this postcode area and flood risk checking… — open for the map, the schools and the rest.

Article 4Planning permission required to let by the room

■ mapped to a point, not an address

What could kill thisThe checks

The property is being sold at auction, so the price shown is a guide, not what it will cost

Every figure on this page is worked from that price, so paying more than it cuts the return.

2 problems found · 4 we could not check · 3 do not apply to this property

■ from the listinglisting last seen 17 Sep 2026

Which strategy wins?The ways to run it

Every way loses money — Standard rental loses least, at £792 a month

Standard rental also ties up the least cash, £101,070.

Standard rental−£792 · £101,070 in

Housing-benefit rent−£973 · £101,070 in

Each row: money kept a month, then the cash it ties up. Not compared: Rent by the room (only 0 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?The five-year sums

−£56,422 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 23% in the price would leave nothing from a sale after selling costs, and you would still owe the lender any shortfall. That is the £101,070 you put in. The 5-year fix runs past this 5-year hold, so the rate reset comes after it.

◧ 2.0%/yr growth assumed