Rented normally, it costs you £157 a month. That is £1,886 a year, every year you hold it.

Will it pay?Calculator

You top up £157 a month — the mortgage takes 77p of every pound of rent

Borrowing £29,015 less would close that shortfall — which is £29,015 more cash at the start, on top of the deposit.

£752 mortgage

£974 rent in£157 short

◧ market rent £974 · 71 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

£62,175 + refurb costs

And about £9,430 more over five years, because it loses £157 every month you hold it — before any repair. That already assumes the rent never falls.

£62,175 to buy it

deposit · stamp duty · solicitor · fees~£1,350, unseen

□ works not inspected

What would have to be true?The working

£35,000 off and it stops losing money

At the asking price you feed it £157 a month. At £146,302 the rent covers everything — leaving stamp duty of £7,741 at that price.

offer £146,302

asked £185,000

◧ worked back from the rent■ stamp duty re-bandedrounded down to £5,000 — the rent it works back from is an estimate

Is the price right?Comparables

We can't tell — nothing nearby is alike enough

The dearest sold for 2.5× the cheapest, so the rent has to justify this price on its own.

you'd pay £185,000

£55,000

£60,000

£90,000

£90,000

£95,000

£100,000

£117,000

£117,000

£120,000

£135,000

£137,000

£138,000

£55k£96.5k£138k

£55,000 cheapest£138,000 dearest

12 completed sales, same property type, last 3 years

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

What will the rent borrow?Lender test

The rent carries £103,342 of the £138,750 loan

That £35,408 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 £18,873. Lenders test the rent at 7.5% and need it to cover 145% of the payment.

£1,257 needed

more than the £937 rent

stressed at 7.5%, 145% cover

◧ rent after empty weeks £937PRA-style test

Who has to say yes?Council record

Middlesbrough council approves 64% — 39% on a cautious reading

A council-wide rate across 14 HMO decisions, not a forecast for this address.

64%

0%50%100%

never approvesalways approves

the band is the cautious reading of the same 14 decisions — as low as 39%

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

How big is it, really?The plan

One figure, and nothing checking it 807 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

Middlesbrough, TS5 4GE

1 of 3 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 · 2 came back clear · 4 we could not check · 1 does not apply to this property

■ from the Article 4 maplisting last seen 18 Sep 2026

Which strategy wins?The ways to run it

Short-stay let beats Rent by the room by £1,126 a month

Your controls are set to Standard rental — £1,236 a month behind Short-stay let.

Short-stay let+£1,079 · £63,525 in

3 nearby short-lets within 20 km · low confidence

Rent by the room−£47 · £89,525 in

Standard rental−£157 · £63,525 in

Guaranteed council rent−£429 · £63,525 in

Housing-benefit rent−£539 · £63,525 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

−£12,397 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 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 £63,525 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