Rented normally, it costs you £209 a month. That is £2,511 a year, every year you hold it.

Will it pay?Calculator

You top up £209 a month — the mortgage takes 82p of every pound of rent

Borrowing £38,624 less would close that shortfall — which is £38,624 more cash at the start, on top of the deposit.

£609 mortgage

£744 rent in£209 short

◧ market rent £744 · 57 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

£50,450 + refurb costs

And about £12,553 more over five years, because it loses £209 every month you hold it — before any repair. That already assumes the rent never falls.

£50,450 to buy it

deposit · stamp duty · solicitor · fees~£7,487, unseen

□ works not inspected

What would have to be true?The working

£50,000 off and it stops losing money

At the asking price you feed it £209 a month. At £98,496 the rent covers everything — leaving stamp duty of £4,925 at that price.

offer £98,496

asked £150,000

◧ 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 £78,939 of the £112,500 loan

That £33,561 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 £20,931. Lenders test the rent at 7.5% and need it to cover 145% of the payment.

£1,020 needed

more than the £715 rent

stressed at 7.5%, 145% cover

◧ rent after empty weeks £715PRA-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

Birmingham, B17 8JN

2 of 4 schools in this postcode area rated Good or Outstanding 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 · 2 came back clear · 2 we could not check · 3 do not apply to this property

■ from council licensing registerlisting last seen 18 Sep 2026

Which strategy wins?The ways to run it

Every way loses money — Guaranteed council rent loses least, at £101 a month

Let it to the council and you keep £108 a month more, and they keep paying when it is empty.

Guaranteed council rent−£101 · £57,937 in

Standard rental−£209 · £57,937 in

Housing-benefit rent−£296 · £57,937 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

−£17,325 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 25% in the price would leave nothing from a sale after selling costs, and you would still owe the lender any shortfall. That is the £57,937 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