Rented normally, it costs you £33 a month. That is £390 a year, every year you hold it.

Will it pay?Calculator

You top up £33 a month — the mortgage takes 63p of every pound of rent

Borrowing £6,006 less would close that shortfall — which is £6,006 more cash at the start, on top of the deposit.

£731 mortgage

£415 running

£1,158 rent in£33 short

◧ market rent £1,158 · 120 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

£60,800 + refurb costs

And about £1,952 more over five years, because it loses £33 every month you hold it — before any repair. That already assumes the rent never falls.

£60,800 to buy it

deposit · stamp duty · solicitor · fees~£8,081, unseen

□ works not inspected

What would have to be true?The working

£5,000 off and it stops losing money

At the asking price you feed it £33 a month. At £171,984 the rent covers everything — leaving stamp duty of £9,539 at that price.

offer £171,984

asked £180,000

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

Can we trust the rent?Rent evidence

Nearby lettings back this rent

They are advertised rents rather than signed tenancies, so a slow month is still possible.

+110 more

our bar: 10 within 500 m

what 17 nearby lettings ask£800–£1,720/mo

our own middle half£1,080–£1,242/mo

■ 120 lettings within 500 mAdvertised rents, not signed tenancies

What will the rent borrow?Lender test

The rent carries £122,865 of the £135,000 loan

That £12,135 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 rent carries the whole loan. Lenders test the rent at 7.5% and need it to cover 145% of the payment.

£1,223 needed

more than the £1,113 rent

stressed at 7.5%, 145% cover

◧ rent after empty weeks £1,113PRA-style test

How big is it, really?The plan

The plan and the advert, side by side 496 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

Hemel Hempstead, HP1 1AU

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 4Not assessed for this address

■ postcode area, not this address

What could kill thisThe checks

You would not own it outright — 80 years left, and buying more years has already got dearer

Nobody has priced those extra years here — you buy them from whoever owns the building.

2 problems found · 3 came back clear · 2 we could not check · 2 do not apply to this property

■ from the listinglisting last seen 17 Sep 2026

Which strategy wins?The ways to run it

Every way loses money — Standard rental loses least, at £33 a month

Standard rental also ties up the least cash, £68,881.

Standard rental−£33 · £68,881 in

Housing-benefit rent−£264 · £68,881 in

Each row: money kept a month, then the cash it ties up. Not compared: Rent by the room (only 1 bedroom) · Do it up, then remortgage (pays back at the remortgage) · Short-stay let (no local short-let data) · Guaranteed council rent (no scheme in this borough) · Buy, improve & sell (pays out on sale)

◧ 2 ways, one measureranked on money kept each month, at the asking price

What would you walk away with?The five-year sums

−£6,575 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 25% in the price would leave nothing from a sale after selling costs, and you would still owe the lender any shortfall. That is the £68,881 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