Rented normally, it costs you £220 a month. That is £2,636 a year, every year you hold it.

Will it pay?Calculator

You top up £220 a month — the mortgage takes 78p of every pound of rent

Borrowing £40,559 less would close that shortfall — which is £40,559 more cash at the start, on top of the deposit.

£1,178 mortgage

£1,504 rent in£220 short

£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

£99,375 + refurb costs

And about £13,182 more over five years, because it loses £220 every month you hold it — before any repair. That already assumes the rent never falls.

£99,375 to buy it

deposit · stamp duty · solicitor · fees~£10,764, unseen

□ works not inspected

What would have to be true?The working

£50,000 off and it stops losing money

At the asking price you feed it £220 a month. At £235,908 the rent covers everything — leaving stamp duty of £14,014 at that price.

offer £235,908

asked £290,000

◧ 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 3.4× the cheapest, so the rent has to justify this price on its own.

you'd pay £290,000

£88,000

£92,000

£101,250

£225,000

£230,000

£236,000

£240,000

£287,500

£290,000

£295,000

£300,500

£303,000

£88k£195.5k£303k

£88,000 cheapest£303,000 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 £159,576 of the £217,500 loan

That £57,924 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 £32,392. Lenders test the rent at 7.5% and need it to cover 145% of the payment.

£1,971 needed

more than the £1,446 rent

stressed at 7.5%, 145% cover

◧ rent after empty weeks £1,446PRA-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

Grays, RM20 3DG

1 of 1 school 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 need a licence from the council first

Letting without the council’s licence is an offence, and the fee is in no figure here.

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

■ from council licensing registerlisting last seen 15 Sep 2026

Which strategy wins?The ways to run it

Every way loses money — Standard rental loses least, at £220 a month

Let it to the council: £4,824 a year less, but they keep paying when it is empty.

Standard rental−£220 · £110,139 in

Guaranteed council rent−£622 · £110,139 in

Housing-benefit rent−£728 · £110,139 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) · 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

−£22,208 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 £110,139 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