Rented normally, it costs you £174 a month. That is £2,084 a year, every year you hold it.

Will it pay?Calculator

You top up £174 a month — the mortgage takes 59p of every pound of rent

Borrowing £32,059 less would close that shortfall — which is £32,059 more cash at the start, on top of the deposit.

£528 mortgage

£505 running

£894 rent in£174 short

£175 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

£44,050 + refurb costs

And about £10,419 more over five years, because it loses £174 every month you hold it — before any repair. That already assumes the rent never falls.

£44,050 to buy it

deposit · stamp duty · solicitor · fees~£9,149, unseen

□ works not inspected

What would have to be true?The working

£40,000 off and it stops losing money

At the asking price you feed it £174 a month. At £87,255 the rent covers everything — leaving stamp duty of £4,363 at that price.

offer £87,255

asked £130,000

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

you'd pay £130,000

£160,000

£188,000

£198,500

£215,000

£230,000

£240,000

£265,000

£280,000

£310,000

£367,500

£380,000

£775,000

£160k£467.5k£775k

£160,000 cheapest£775,000 dearest

12 completed sales, same property type, last 3 years

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

Can we trust the rent?Rent evidence

Nearby lettings back this rent

A real local sample, but short of our bar of ten inside 500 metres — treat the rent as workable rather than settled.

+89 more

our bar: 10 within 500 m

what 20 nearby lettings ask£545–£2,200/mo

our own middle half£764–£1,046/mo

■ 99 lettings within 1 kmAdvertised rents, not signed tenancies

What will the rent borrow?Lender test

The rent carries £94,854 of the £97,500 loan

That £2,646 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.

£884 needed

more than the £860 rent

stressed at 7.5%, 145% cover

◧ rent after empty weeks £860PRA-style test

How big is it, really?The plan

The plan and the advert, side by side 1,116 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

No school rated Good or better in this postcode area

2 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

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

■ from the listinglisting last seen 14 Sep 2026

Which strategy wins?The ways to run it

Every way loses money — Guaranteed council rent loses least, at £134 a month

Let it to the council and you keep £40 a month more, and they keep paying when it is empty.

Guaranteed council rent−£134 · £53,199 in

Standard rental−£174 · £53,199 in

Housing-benefit rent−£231 · £53,199 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

−£15,642 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 26% in the price would leave nothing from a sale after selling costs, and you would still owe the lender any shortfall. That is the £53,199 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