Rented normally, you'd make about £196 a month.

Will it pay?Calculator

£196 of every £944 is yours to keep, each month

You keep 21p of every pound of rent. The mortgage takes 37p.

£345 mortgage

£321 running

£944 rent in£196 yours

◧ market rent £944 · 64 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

£29,475 + refurb costs

£8,225 of that never comes back — stamp duty, solicitor and lender fees.

£29,475 to buy it

~£10,218

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 £85,000 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

Is the price right?Comparables

We can't tell — nothing nearby is alike enough

The dearest sold for 1.9× the cheapest, so the rent has to justify this price on its own.

you'd pay £85,000

£65,000

£95,000

£100,500

£105,000

£107,500

£110,000

£111,000

£111,000

£115,000

£117,500

£118,000

£126,000

£65k£95.5k£126k

£65,000 cheapest£126,000 dearest

12 completed sales, same property type, last 3 years

□ 12 sold nearby, not matched on sizeHM Land Registry Price Paid Data

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.

+54 more

our bar: 10 within 500 m

what 20 nearby lettings ask£345–£1,440/mo

our own middle half£879–£1,014/mo

■ 64 lettings within 1 kmAdvertised rents, not signed tenancies

What will the rent borrow?Lender test

The rent carries the whole loan — it could fall 36% 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.

£578 needed

of £908 rent

stressed at 7.5%, 145% cover

◧ rent after empty weeks £908PRA-style test

Who has to say yes?Council record

Preston council approves 97% — 93% on a cautious reading

A council-wide rate, not a forecast — and Preston council refuses schemes that sandwich a family home. Check both neighbours.

97%

0%50%100%

never approvesalways approves

the band is the cautious reading of the same 152 decisions — as low as 93%

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

How big is it, really?The plan

The plan and the advert, side by side 657 sq ft

The advert and the survey disagree — open for both figures and the gap.

■ area measured on site

Is it a good location?Open the map

No school rated Good or better in this postcode area

1 school 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 council here has taken away the automatic right to rent this out by the room

You would have to apply for permission first, and the council can say no.

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

■ from the Article 4 maplisting last seen 16 Sep 2026

Which strategy wins?The ways to run it

Rent by the room beats Standard rental by £222 a month

Rent by the room needs £26,000 more cash than the others.

Rent by the room+£418 · £65,693 in

Standard rental+£196 · £39,693 in

Housing-benefit rent−£41 · £39,693 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) · Guaranteed council rent (no scheme in this borough) · 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

+£7,935 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 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 £39,693 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