Rented normally, you'd make about £67 a month.

Will it pay?Calculator

£67 of every £1,122 is yours to keep, each month

You keep 6p of every pound of rent. The mortgage takes 56p.

£630 mortgage

£1,122 rent in£67 yours

◧ market rent £1,122 · 50 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

£52,125 + refurb costs

£13,375 of that never comes back — stamp duty, solicitor and lender fees.

£52,125 to buy it

~£17,630

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 £155,000 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

What will the rent borrow?Lender test

The rent carries the whole loan — it could fall 2% 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.

£1,054 needed

of £1,079 rent

stressed at 7.5%, 145% cover

◧ rent after empty weeks £1,079PRA-style test

Who has to say yes?Council record

Wolverhampton council approves 65% — 48% on a cautious reading

A council-wide rate across 34 HMO decisions, not a forecast for this address.

65%

0%50%100%

never approvesalways approves

the band is the cautious reading of the same 34 decisions — as low as 48%

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

Is it a good location?Open the map

Bilston, WV14 9XF

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 12 Sep 2026

Which strategy wins?The ways to run it

Rent by the room beats Standard rental by £138 a month

Let it to the council: £1,272 a year less, but they keep paying when it is empty.

Rent by the room+£205 · £95,755 in

Standard rental+£67 · £69,755 in

Guaranteed council rent−£39 · £69,755 in

Housing-benefit rent−£271 · £69,755 in

Short-stay let−£289 · £69,755 in

36 nearby short-lets within 20 km · low confidence

Each row: money kept a month, then the cash it ties up. Not compared: Do it up, then remortgage (pays back at the remortgage) · Buy, improve & sell (pays out on sale)

◧ 5 ways, one measureranked on money kept each month, at the asking price

What would you walk away with?The five-year sums

−£2,456 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 28% in the price would leave nothing from a sale after selling costs, and you would still owe the lender any shortfall. That is the £69,755 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