Rented normally, you'd make about £415 a month.

Will it pay?Calculator

£415 of every £2,015 is yours to keep, each month

You keep 21p of every pound of rent. The mortgage takes 37p.

+£2,015−£752−£751−£97£415

Rent inMortgageRunning costsTaxProfit

Rent £2,015, modelled from 9 nearby lettings within 1.5 km

□ 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

£67,625 + refurb costs

£21,375 of that never comes back — LBTT, solicitor and lender fees.

£67,625 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 £185,000 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

Nothing nearby is comparable — but it is 10% over its 2014 price

The dearest sold for 1.8× the cheapest, so the rent has to justify this price on its own.

you'd pay £185,000

£150,000

£155,000

£175,000

£175,000

£210,100

£213,500

£227,500

£236,250

£241,000

£245,500

£253,000

£277,000

£150k£213.5k£277k

£150,000 cheapest£277,000 dearest

12 completed sales, same property type, last 3 years

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

Can we trust the rent?Rent evidence

Nearby lettings, but only by searching 1.5 km

We widened the search to find them, so these are not next-door comparisons.

our bar: 10 within 500 m

our own middle half£1,599–£2,539/mo

■ 9 lettings within 1.5 km□ searched wider than our barAdvertised rents, not signed tenancies

What will the rent borrow?Lender test

The rent carries the whole loan — it could fall 35% 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.

£1,257 needed

of £1,938 rent

stressed at 7.5%, 145% cover

◧ rent after empty weeks £1,938PRA-style test

How big is it, really?The plan

The plan and the advert, side by side 893 sq ft

Two figures for this house, and neither is a survey. Open for both.

AdvertFloorplan

883 sq ft893 sq ft903 sq ft

883 sq ft903 sq ft

neither is a survey — a tape measure settles it

□ area off the floorplan — not a survey

Is it a good location?Open the map

Merchant City, G1 1TS

No schools in this postcode area 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 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 · 1 came back clear · 5 we could not check · 2 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

Let it to the council: £6,492 a year less, but they keep paying when it is empty.

Standard rental+£415 · £69,125 in

Rent by the room+£228 · £95,125 in

Guaranteed council rent−£126 · £69,125 in

Housing-benefit rent−£399 · £69,125 in

Each row: money kept a month, then the cash it ties up. Not compared: 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)

◧ 4 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

+£19,311 after five years on the cash you put in, before tax on the sale

More 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 23% in the price would leave nothing from a sale after selling costs, and you would still owe the lender any shortfall. That is the £69,125 you put in. The 5-year fix runs past this 5-year hold, so the rate reset comes after it.

−£69,125+£205,331−£5,133−£138,750+£26,988+£19,311

Cash you put inSale valueSelling costsMortgageRent keptYou walk with

◧ 2.0%/yr growth assumed