Rented normally, it costs you £83 a month. That is £993 a year, every year you hold it.

Will it pay?Calculator

You top up £83 a month — the mortgage takes 35p of every pound of rent

Borrowing £15,277 less would close that shortfall — which is £15,277 more cash at the start, on top of the deposit.

£570 running

£803 rent in£83 short

◧ market rent £803 · 83 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

£25,050 + refurb costs

And about £4,965 more over five years, because it loses £83 every month you hold it — before any repair. That already assumes the rent never falls.

~£42,000

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

£25,050 to buy it

□ works not inspected

What would have to be true?The working

£20,000 off and it stops losing money

At the asking price you feed it £83 a month. At £49,629 the rent covers everything — leaving stamp duty of £2,481 at that price.

offer £49,629

asked £70,000

◧ 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 the whole loan — it could fall 38% 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.

£476 needed

of £772 rent

stressed at 7.5%, 145% cover

◧ rent after empty weeks £772PRA-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

Wigan, WN3

No schools in this postcode area 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

£3,043 a year in charges for the building, owed even when nobody is living there

The contract the property is sold under sets these charges, and they can go up over the years.

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

■ from the listinglisting last seen 11 Sep 2026

Which strategy wins?The ways to run it

Every way loses money — Standard rental loses least, at £83 a month

Standard rental also ties up the least cash, £67,050.

Standard rental−£83 · £67,050 in

Housing-benefit rent−£364 · £67,050 in

Each row: money kept a month, then the cash it ties up. Not compared: Rent by the room (only 2 bedrooms) · 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

−£20,187 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 45% in the price would leave nothing from a sale after selling costs, and you would still owe the lender any shortfall. That is the £67,050 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