Rented normally, it costs you £17 a month. That is £199 a year, every year you hold it.

Will it pay?Calculator

You top up £17 a month — the mortgage takes 75p of every pound of rent

Borrowing £3,068 less would close that shortfall — which is £3,068 more cash at the start, on top of the deposit.

£2,763 mortgage

£3,674 rent in£17 short

◧ market rent £3,674 · 1 comp2 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

£242,100 + refurb costs

And about £997 more over five years, because it loses £17 every month you hold it — before any repair. That already assumes the rent never falls.

£242,100 to buy it

deposit · stamp duty · solicitor · fees~£37,030, unseen

□ works not inspected

What would have to be true?

Break-even is within £5,000 of the asked price

It lands that close to the £680,000 asked — inside the step this card rounds to, and inside the confidence band on the rent it works back from. So the price asked is already about the price this rent carries, and there is no honest discount to print.

◧ worked back from the rent

Is the price right?Comparables

18.8% over the middle sale — £107,500 more

Sales in this postcode sector, close enough in price to compare.

you'd pay £680,000

£572,500

£450k£550k£650k

£450,000 cheapest£650,000 dearest

Middle sale £572,500 · middle half £520,000–£590,000 shaded

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

What will the rent borrow?Lender test

The rent carries £389,814 of the £510,000 loan

That £120,186 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 £57,815. Lenders test the rent at 7.5% and need it to cover 145% of the payment.

£4,622 needed

more than the £3,533 rent

stressed at 7.5%, 145% cover

◧ rent after empty weeks £3,533PRA-style test

Who has to say yes?Council record

Brent council approves 34% — 28% on a cautious reading

A council-wide rate across 223 HMO decisions, not a forecast for this address.

34%

0%50%100%

never approvesalways approves

the band is the cautious reading of the same 223 decisions — as low as 28%

■ Article 4 — planning permission requireddecision record held for this authority

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

Wembley, HA9 7EA

2 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 need a licence from the council first

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

3 problems found · 1 came back clear · 4 we could not check · 1 does 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 £17 a month

Let it to the council: £10,440 a year less, but they keep paying when it is empty.

Standard rental−£17 · £279,130 in

Guaranteed council rent−£887 · £279,130 in

Housing-benefit rent−£1,419 · £279,130 in

Rent by the room−£1,639 · £279,130 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

−£32,294 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 £279,130 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