Rented normally, it costs you £20 a month. That is £239 a year, every year you hold it.

Will it pay?Calculator

You top up £20 a month — the mortgage takes 47p of every pound of rent

Borrowing £3,672 less would close that shortfall — which is £3,672 more cash at the start, on top of the deposit.

£569 mortgage

£610 running

£1,205 rent in£20 short

◧ market rent £1,205 · 123 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

£47,400 + refurb costs

And about £1,193 more over five years, because it loses £20 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~£11,960, unseen

□ works not inspected

What would have to be true?

Break-even is within £5,000 of the asked price

It lands that close to the £140,000 asked — inside the step this card rounds to, and inside the confidence band on the rent it works back from. So the price asked is already about the price this rent carries, and there is no honest discount to print.

◧ worked back from the rent

Is the price right?The deeds

Last sold for £156,500 in 2016

Nothing nearby is comparable, but asking is 11% less than the £156,500 paid for it in 2016.

□ this address’s own deeds, no comparable saleHM Land Registry Price Paid Data

What will the rent borrow?Lender test

The rent carries the whole loan — it could fall 18% 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.

£952 needed

of £1,159 rent

stressed at 7.5%, 145% cover

◧ rent after empty weeks £1,159PRA-style test

Is it a good location?Open the map

No school rated Good or better in this postcode area

2 schools in this postcode area, none rated Good or better 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

£2,797 a year in charges for the building, owed even when nobody is living there

The contract the property is sold under sets these charges, and they can go up over the years.

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

■ from the listinglisting last seen 15 Sep 2026

Which strategy wins?The ways to run it

Every way loses money — Standard rental loses least, at £20 a month

Let it to the council: £3,156 a year less, but they keep paying when it is empty.

Standard rental−£20 · £59,360 in

Guaranteed council rent−£283 · £59,360 in

Housing-benefit rent−£421 · £59,360 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

−£6,577 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 £59,360 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