Rented normally, it costs you £381 a month. That is £4,570 a year, every year you hold it.

Will it pay?Calculator

You top up £381 a month — the mortgage takes 83p of every pound of rent

Borrowing £70,307 less would close that shortfall — which is £70,307 more cash at the start, on top of the deposit.

£1,930 mortgage

£2,316 rent in£381 short

◧ market rent £2,316 · 76 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

£166,900 + refurb costs

And about £22,850 more over five years, because it loses £381 every month you hold it — before any repair. That already assumes the rent never falls.

£166,900 to buy it

deposit · stamp duty · solicitor · fees~£9,982, unseen

□ works not inspected

What would have to be true?The working

£90,000 off and it stops losing money

At the asking price you feed it £381 a month. At £381,252 the rent covers everything — leaving stamp duty of £28,125 at that price.

offer £381,252

asked £475,000

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

Is the price right?Comparables

We can't tell — nothing nearby is alike enough

The dearest sold for 5.2× the cheapest, so the rent has to justify this price on its own.

you'd pay £475,000

£350,000

£435,000

£440,000

£470,000

£495,000

£500,000

£592,500

£788,000

£1,060,000

£1,325,000

£1,650,000

£1,831,433

£350k£1.1m£1.8m

£350,000 cheapest£1,831,433 dearest

12 completed sales, same property type, last 3 years

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

What will the rent borrow?Lender test

The rent carries £245,729 of the £356,250 loan

That £110,521 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 £71,204. Lenders test the rent at 7.5% and need it to cover 145% of the payment.

£3,229 needed

more than the £2,227 rent

stressed at 7.5%, 145% cover

◧ rent after empty weeks £2,227PRA-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

London, EC1V 0ED

2 of 5 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 · 3 came back clear · 2 we could not check · 2 do not apply to this property

■ from council licensing registerlisting last seen 15 Sep 2026

Which strategy wins?The ways to run it

Every way loses money — Standard rental loses least, at £381 a month

Let it to the council: £4,044 a year less, but they keep paying when it is empty.

Standard rental−£381 · £176,882 in

Guaranteed council rent−£718 · £176,882 in

Housing-benefit rent−£1,175 · £176,882 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

−£39,573 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 24% in the price would leave nothing from a sale after selling costs, and you would still owe the lender any shortfall. That is the £176,882 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