Rented normally, you'd make about £94 a month.

Will it pay?Calculator

£94 of every £2,062 is yours to keep, each month

You keep 5p of every pound of rent. The mortgage takes 56p.

£1,158 mortgage

£708 running

£2,062 rent in£94 yours

◧ market rent £2,062 · 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

£97,550 + refurb costs

£26,300 of that never comes back — stamp duty, solicitor and lender fees.

£97,550 to buy it

deposit · stamp duty · solicitor · fees~£20,782, 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 £285,000 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.

£1,937 needed

of £1,983 rent

stressed at 7.5%, 145% cover

◧ rent after empty weeks £1,983PRA-style test

Who has to say yes?Council record

Barking and Dagenham council approves 4% — 1% on a cautious reading

A council-wide rate across 51 HMO decisions, not a forecast for this address.

4%

0%50%100%

never approvesalways approves

the band is the cautious reading of the same 51 decisions — as low as 1%

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

How big is it, really?The plan

The plan and the advert, side by side 910 sq ft

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

□ area off the floorplan — not a survey

Is it a good location?Open the map

Dagenham, RM10 9YX

1 of 5 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.

3 problems found · 3 came back clear · 3 we could not check

■ from council licensing registerlisting last seen 03 Sep 2026

Which strategy wins?The ways to run it

Nothing here beats a plain let

Let it to the council: £1,764 a year less, but they keep paying when it is empty.

Standard rental+£94 · £118,332 in

Short-stay let−£3 · £118,332 in

10 nearby short-lets within 11.1 km · low confidence

Guaranteed council rent−£53 · £118,332 in

Rent by the room−£77 · £144,332 in

Housing-benefit rent−£429 · £118,332 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) · 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

−£4,613 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 £118,332 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