Rented normally, you'd make about £6 a month.

Will it pay?Calculator

£6 of every £1,543 is yours to keep, each month

You keep under 1p of every pound of rent. The mortgage takes 68p.

+£1,543−£1,056−£479−£1£6

Rent inMortgageRunning costsTaxProfit

Rent £1,543, modelled from 18 nearby lettings

◧ market rent £1,543 · 18 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

£88,050 + refurb costs

£23,050 of that never comes back — stamp duty, solicitor and lender fees.

£88,050 to buy it

~£29,084

deposit · stamp duty · solicitor · feeswe haven’t been inside

□ 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 £260,000 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 £163,714 of the £195,000 loan

That £31,286 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 £5,092. Lenders test the rent at 7.5% and need it to cover 145% of the payment.

£1,767 needed

more than the £1,484 rent

stressed at 7.5%, 145% cover

◧ rent after empty weeks £1,484PRA-style test

Who has to say yes?Council record

Southampton council decides

Named from the postcode, with no decision record under it. Check Southampton council's pre-application advice before you commit to a room-let plan.

■ Article 4 — planning permission required◧ authority from the postcode□ no decision recordfrom the Article 4 map we hold

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

Southampton, SO16 4EU

1 of 2 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

The council here has taken away the automatic right to rent this out by the room

You would have to apply for permission first, and the council can say no.

2 problems found · 1 came back clear · 5 we could not check · 1 does not apply to this property

■ from the Article 4 maplisting last seen 19 Sep 2026

Which strategy wins?The ways to run it

Nothing here beats a plain let

Let it to the council: £1,728 a year less, but they keep paying when it is empty.

Standard rental+£6 · £117,134 in

Guaranteed council rent−£138 · £117,134 in

Rent by the room−£385 · £117,134 in

Housing-benefit rent−£444 · £117,134 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

−£11,512 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 28% in the price would leave nothing from a sale after selling costs, and you would still owe the lender any shortfall. That is the £117,134 you put in. The 5-year fix runs past this 5-year hold, so the rate reset comes after it.

−£117,134+£307,933−£7,698−£195,000+£387−£11,512

Cash you put inSale valueSelling costsMortgageRent keptYou are down

◧ 2.0%/yr growth assumed