Rented normally, it costs you £165 a month. That is £1,978 a year, every year you hold it.

Will it pay?Calculator

You top up £165 a month — the mortgage takes 59p of every pound of rent

Borrowing £30,433 less would close that shortfall — which is £30,433 more cash at the start, on top of the deposit.

£569 mortgage

£525 running

£966 rent in£165 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

£47,400 + refurb costs

And about £9,891 more over five years, because it loses £165 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~£11,362, unseen

□ works not inspected

What would have to be true?The working

£40,000 off and it stops losing money

At the asking price you feed it £165 a month. At £99,422 the rent covers everything — leaving stamp duty of £4,971 at that price.

offer £99,422

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

Is the price right?Comparables

We can't tell — nothing nearby is alike enough

The dearest sold for 8.1× the cheapest, so the rent has to justify this price on its own.

you'd pay £140,000

£79,950

£80,500

£88,500

£95,000

£105,000

£118,000

£119,000

£120,000

£123,000

£126,500

£185,000

£650,000

£80k£365k£650k

£79,950 cheapest£650,000 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 £102,493 of the £105,000 loan

That £2,507 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 £929 rent

stressed at 7.5%, 145% cover

◧ rent after empty weeks £929PRA-style test

Is it a good location?Open the map

Liverpool, L6 1HA

No schools in this postcode area 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

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

■ from council licensing registerlisting last seen 16 Sep 2026

Which strategy wins?The ways to run it

Every way loses money — Standard rental loses least, at £165 a month

Let it to the council: £2,544 a year less, but they keep paying when it is empty.

Standard rental−£165 · £58,762 in

Guaranteed council rent−£377 · £58,762 in

Housing-benefit rent−£504 · £58,762 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) · 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

−£15,819 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 27% in the price would leave nothing from a sale after selling costs, and you would still owe the lender any shortfall. That is the £58,762 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