Rented normally, it costs you £78 a month. That is £939 a year, every year you hold it.

Will it pay?Calculator

You top up £78 a month — the mortgage takes 63p of every pound of rent

Borrowing £14,440 less would close that shortfall — which is £14,440 more cash at the start, on top of the deposit.

£569 mortgage

£372 running

£897 rent in£78 short

◧ market rent £897 · 90 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

£47,400 + refurb costs

And about £4,693 more over five years, because it loses £78 every month you hold it — before any repair. That already assumes the rent never falls.

£47,400 to buy it

deposit · stamp duty · solicitor · fees~£8,479, unseen

□ works not inspected

What would have to be true?The working

£15,000 off and it stops losing money

At the asking price you feed it £78 a month. At £120,736 the rent covers everything — leaving stamp duty of £6,037 at that price.

offer £120,736

asked £140,000

◧ worked back from the rent■ stamp duty re-bandedrounded down to £5,000 — the rent it works back from is an estimate

Can we trust the rent?Rent evidence

Nearby lettings back this rent

A real local sample, but short of our bar of ten inside 500 metres — treat the rent as workable rather than settled.

+80 more

our bar: 10 within 500 m

what 20 nearby lettings ask£675–£1,050/mo

our own middle half£849–£948/mo

■ 90 lettings within 1 kmAdvertised rents, not signed tenancies

What will the rent borrow?Lender test

The rent carries £95,172 of the £105,000 loan

That £9,828 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 rent carries the whole loan. Lenders test the rent at 7.5% and need it to cover 145% of the payment.

£952 needed

more than the £863 rent

stressed at 7.5%, 145% cover

◧ rent after empty weeks £863PRA-style test

How big is it, really?The plan

The plan and the advert, side by side 568 sq ft

Two figures for this house, and neither is a survey. Open for both.

□ area off the floorplan — not a survey

Is it a good location?Open the map

Southend-on-Sea, SS1 2UT

2 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 4Not assessed for this address

■ 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.

2 problems found · 4 came back clear · 1 we could not check · 2 do not apply to this property

■ from council licensing registerlisting last seen 14 Sep 2026

Which strategy wins?The ways to run it

Every way loses money — Standard rental loses least, at £78 a month

Let it to the council: £924 a year less, but they keep paying when it is empty.

Standard rental−£78 · £55,879 in

Guaranteed council rent−£155 · £55,879 in

Housing-benefit rent−£299 · £55,879 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?The five-year sums

−£9,323 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 £55,879 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