Rented normally, it costs you £143 a month. That is £1,714 a year, every year you hold it.

Will it pay?Calculator

You top up £143 a month — the mortgage takes 58p of every pound of rent

Borrowing £26,374 less would close that shortfall — which is £26,374 more cash at the start, on top of the deposit.

£569 mortgage

£518 running

£982 rent in£143 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

£47,400 + refurb costs

And about £8,572 more over five years, because it loses £143 every month you hold it — before any repair. That already assumes the rent never falls.

£47,400 to buy it

deposit · stamp duty · solicitor · fees~£12,230, unseen

□ works not inspected

What would have to be true?The working

£35,000 off and it stops losing money

At the asking price you feed it £143 a month. At £104,822 the rent covers everything — leaving stamp duty of £5,241 at that price.

offer £104,822

asked £140,000

◧ 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?The deeds

Last sold for £86,250 in 2013

Nothing nearby is comparable, but asking is 62% more than the £86,250 paid for it in 2013.

□ this address’s own deeds, no comparable saleHM Land Registry Price Paid Data

Can we trust the rent?Rent evidence

Nearby lettings, but only by searching 1.5 km

We widened the search to find them, so these are not next-door comparisons.

+77 more

our bar: 10 within 500 m

our own middle half£948–£1,017/mo

■ 87 lettings within 1.5 km□ searched wider than our barAdvertised rents, not signed tenancies

What will the rent borrow?Lender test

The rent carries £104,191 of the £105,000 loan

That £809 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.

£952 needed

more than the £944 rent

stressed at 7.5%, 145% cover

◧ rent after empty weeks £944PRA-style test

How big is it, really?The plan

The plan and the advert, side by side 670 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

Swindon, SN2 2HZ

1 of 3 schools 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 to know before you offerThe checks

Every tenancy here is periodic, with no Section 21 to end it

Tenancies are now periodic, with no Section 21 — budget a longer void.

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

■ from the Renters’ Rights Act 2025listing last seen 12 Sep 2026

Which strategy wins?The ways to run it

Every way loses money — Standard rental loses least, at £143 a month

Let it to the council: £576 a year less, but they keep paying when it is empty.

Standard rental−£143 · £59,630 in

Guaranteed council rent−£191 · £59,630 in

Housing-benefit rent−£355 · £59,630 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

−£14,651 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 £59,630 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