Rented normally, it costs you £269 a month. That is £3,232 a year, every year you hold it.

Will it pay?Calculator

You top up £269 a month — the mortgage takes 92p of every pound of rent

Borrowing £49,725 less would close that shortfall — which is £49,725 more cash at the start, on top of the deposit.

£731 mortgage

£792 rent in£269 short

◧ market rent £792 · 64 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

£60,500 + refurb costs

And about £16,161 more over five years, because it loses £269 every month you hold it — before any repair. That already assumes the rent never falls.

£60,500 to buy it

deposit · stamp duty · solicitor · fees~£15,111, unseen

□ works not inspected

What would have to be true?The working

£65,000 off and it stops losing money

At the asking price you feed it £269 a month. At £113,695 the rent covers everything — leaving stamp duty of £5,685 at that price.

offer £113,695

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

What will the rent borrow?Lender test

The rent carries £84,032 of the £135,000 loan

That £50,968 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 £37,523. Lenders test the rent at 7.5% and need it to cover 145% of the payment.

£1,223 needed

more than the £762 rent

stressed at 7.5%, 145% cover

◧ rent after empty weeks £762PRA-style test

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

No school rated Good or better in this postcode area

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

The area is mapped as high flood risk

Flood maps cover areas, not buildings — treat it as a reason to search, not a verdict.

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

■ from the flood maplisting last seen 17 Sep 2026

Which strategy wins?The ways to run it

Rent by the room beats Standard rental by £344 a month

Rent by the room needs £30,000 more cash than the others.

Rent by the room+£75 · £105,611 in

Standard rental−£269 · £75,611 in

Housing-benefit rent−£505 · £75,611 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) · Guaranteed council rent (no scheme in this borough) · 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

−£23,778 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 £75,611 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