Rented normally, it costs you £111 a month. That is £1,330 a year, every year you hold it.

Will it pay?Calculator

You top up £111 a month — the mortgage takes 42p of every pound of rent

Borrowing £20,469 less would close that shortfall — which is £20,469 more cash at the start, on top of the deposit.

£284 mortgage

£472 running

£671 rent in£111 short

£175 of that is a guess — no service charge published.

□ 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

£25,050 + refurb costs

And about £6,652 more over five years, because it loses £111 every month you hold it — before any repair. That already assumes the rent never falls.

£25,050 to buy it

~£10,764

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

□ works not inspected

What would have to be true?The working

£25,000 off and it stops losing money

At the asking price you feed it £111 a month. At £42,704 the rent covers everything — leaving stamp duty of £2,135 at that price.

offer £42,704

asked £70,000

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

What will the rent borrow?Lender test

The rent carries the whole loan — it could fall 26% 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.

£476 needed

of £645 rent

stressed at 7.5%, 145% cover

◧ rent after empty weeks £645PRA-style test

Is it a good location?Open the map

Doncaster, DN6

No schools in this postcode area 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 not own it outright — 80 years left, and buying more years has already got dearer

Nobody has priced those extra years here — you buy them from whoever owns the building.

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

■ from the listinglisting last seen 14 Sep 2026

Which strategy wins?The ways to run it

Every way loses money — Standard rental loses least, at £111 a month

Standard rental also ties up the least cash, £35,814.

Standard rental−£111 · £35,814 in

Housing-benefit rent−£285 · £35,814 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?The five-year sums

−£12,635 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 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 £35,814 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