Rented normally, you'd make about £26 a month.

Will it pay?Calculator

£26 of every £1,213 is yours to keep, each month

You keep 2p of every pound of rent. The mortgage takes 64p.

£772 mortgage

£1,213 rent in£26 yours

◧ market rent £1,213 · 6 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

£63,850 + refurb costs

£16,350 of that never comes back — stamp duty, solicitor and lender fees.

£63,850 to buy it

deposit · stamp duty · solicitor · fees~£17,630, unseen

□ works not inspected

What would have to be true?

Nothing — it works at the asking price

The rent covers the mortgage, the running costs and the tax at the £190,000 asked, so there is no discount this card has to name. A lower price would be upside, not a condition.

◧ worked back from the rent

Is the price right?The deeds

Last sold for £113,000 in 2019

Nothing nearby is comparable, but asking is 68% more than the £113,000 paid for it in 2019.

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

What will the rent borrow?Lender test

The rent carries £128,700 of the £142,500 loan

That £13,800 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.

£1,291 needed

more than the £1,166 rent

stressed at 7.5%, 145% cover

◧ rent after empty weeks £1,166PRA-style test

Who has to say yes?Council record

Walsall council approves 40% — 17% on a cautious reading

A council-wide rate across 10 HMO decisions, not a forecast for this address.

40%

0%50%100%

never approvesalways approves

the band is the cautious reading of the same 10 decisions — as low as 17%

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

How big is it, really?The plan

Measured off the plan, not by a surveyor 972 sq ft

The area comes off the plan, not a survey. Open for what that means.

□ area off the floorplan — not a survey

Is it a good location?Open the map

Walsall, WS4 1RN

3 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

The council here has taken away the automatic right to rent this out by the room

You would have to apply for permission first, and the council can say no.

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

■ from the Article 4 maplisting last seen 15 Sep 2026

Which strategy wins?The ways to run it

Rent by the room beats Standard rental by £121 a month

Let it to the council: £3,264 a year less, but they keep paying when it is empty.

Rent by the room+£147 · £111,480 in

Standard rental+£26 · £81,480 in

Short-stay let−£181 · £81,480 in

101 nearby short-lets within 20 km · low confidence

Guaranteed council rent−£246 · £81,480 in

Housing-benefit rent−£395 · £81,480 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) · Buy, improve & sell (pays out on sale)

◧ 5 ways, one measureranked on money kept each month, at the asking price

What would you walk away with?The five-year sums

−£5,416 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 £81,480 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