Rented normally, you'd make about £208 a month.

Will it pay?Calculator

£208 of every £1,251 is yours to keep, each month

You keep 17p of every pound of rent. The mortgage takes 38p.

£479 mortgage

£467 running

£1,251 rent in£208 yours

£25 of that is a guess — no service charge published.

□ service charge not published2 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

£40,170 + refurb costs

£10,670 of that never comes back — stamp duty, solicitor and lender fees.

£40,170 to buy it

~£17,630

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 £118,000 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

Is the price right?Comparables

We can't tell — nothing nearby is alike enough

The dearest sold for 3.6× the cheapest, so the rent has to justify this price on its own.

you'd pay £118,000

£40,000

£40,000

£46,000

£48,500

£55,000

£60,000

£82,500

£88,000

£100,000

£100,000

£145,000

£40k£92.5k£145k

£40,000 cheapest£145,000 dearest

11 completed sales, same property type, last 3 years

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

What will the rent borrow?Lender test

The rent carries the whole loan — it could fall 33% 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.

£802 needed

of £1,203 rent

stressed at 7.5%, 145% cover

◧ rent after empty weeks £1,203PRA-style test

Who has to say yes?Council record

Birmingham council decides

Named from the postcode, with no decision record under it. Check Birmingham 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

Birmingham, B29 5AP

3 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 4Planning permission required to let by the room

■ postcode area, not this address

What could kill thisThe checks

You would not own it outright — 78 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.

3 problems found · 3 came back clear · 3 we could not check

■ from the listinglisting last seen 17 Sep 2026

Which strategy wins?The ways to run it

Nothing here beats a plain let

Let it to the council: £1,464 a year less, but they keep paying when it is empty.

Standard rental+£208 · £57,800 in

Guaranteed council rent+£86 · £57,800 in

Rent by the room+£42 · £57,800 in

Housing-benefit rent−£145 · £57,800 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?The five-year sums

+£6,551 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 30% in the price would leave nothing from a sale after selling costs, and you would still owe the lender any shortfall. That is the £57,800 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