Rented normally, you'd make about £20 a month.

Will it pay?Calculator

£20 of every £997 is yours to keep, each month

You keep 2p of every pound of rent. The mortgage takes 59p.

+£997−£589−£383−£5£20

Rent inMortgageRunning costsTaxProfit

Rent £997, modelled from 9 nearby lettings

◧ market rent £997 · 9 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

£52,725 + refurb costs

£16,475 of that never comes back — LBTT, solicitor and lender fees.

£52,725 to buy it

deposit · stamp duty · solicitor · fees~£1,500, unseen

□ 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 £145,000 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

56.1% under the middle sale — £185,000 less

Sales in this postcode sector, close enough in price to compare.

you'd pay £145,000

£330,000

£320k£352.5k£385k

£320,000 cheapest£385,000 dearest

Middle sale £330,000

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

What will the rent borrow?Lender test

The rent carries £105,782 of the £108,750 loan

That £2,968 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.

£986 needed

more than the £959 rent

stressed at 7.5%, 145% cover

◧ rent after empty weeks £959PRA-style test

How big is it, really?The plan

One figure, and nothing checking it 840 sq ft

Only the agent’s figure exists for this house. Open for what that means.

□ area unchecked — agent’s own

Is it a good location?Open the map

Nearest stop up to 1.5 km away

More than nine in ten listings we cover have one closer — and that is a straight line, not the walk.

Article 4Not assessed for this address

■ postcode area, not this address■ nearest stop in our data□ kind of stop not recordedstraight-line distance, not the walk

What to know before you offerThe checks

Every tenancy here is periodic, with no Section 21 to end it

Tenancies are now periodic, with no Section 21 — budget a longer void.

1 problem found · 2 came back clear · 3 we could not check · 3 do not apply to this property

■ from the Renters’ Rights Act 2025listing last seen 18 Sep 2026

Which strategy wins?The ways to run it

Nothing here beats a plain let

Standard rental also ties up the least cash, £54,225.

Standard rental+£20 · £54,225 in

Housing-benefit rent−£375 · £54,225 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) · Guaranteed council rent (no scheme in this borough) · Buy, improve & sell (pays out on sale)

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

What would you walk away with, after 5 years?The five-year sums

−£4,536 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 £54,225 you put in. The 5-year fix runs past this 5-year hold, so the rate reset comes after it.

−£54,225+£161,168−£4,029−£108,750+£1,300−£4,536

Cash you put inSale valueSelling costsMortgageRent keptYou are down

◧ 2.0%/yr growth assumed