Rented normally, it costs you £107 a month. That is £1,288 a year, every year you hold it.

Will it pay?Calculator

You top up £107 a month — the mortgage takes 59p of every pound of rent

Borrowing £19,810 less would close that shortfall — which is £19,810 more cash at the start, on top of the deposit.

+£1,202−£711−£598−£107

Rent inMortgageRunning costsShort by

The rent covers £1,202 of that — you cover £107

□ 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

£59,125 + refurb costs

And about £6,438 more over five years, because it loses £107 every month you hold it — before any repair. That already assumes the rent never falls.

£59,125 to buy it

deposit · stamp duty · solicitor · fees~£6,417, unseen

□ works not inspected

What would have to be true?The working

£25,000 off and it stops losing money

At the asking price you feed it £107 a month. At £148,579 the rent covers everything — leaving stamp duty of £7,901 at that price.

offer £148,579

asked £175,000

◧ worked back from the rent■ stamp duty re-bandedrounded down to £5,000 — the rent it works back from is an estimate

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.

+78 more

our bar: 10 within 500 m

our own middle half£1,182–£1,222/mo

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

What will the rent borrow?Lender test

The rent carries £127,533 of the £131,250 loan

That £3,717 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.

£1,189 needed

more than the £1,156 rent

stressed at 7.5%, 145% cover

◧ rent after empty weeks £1,156PRA-style test

Is it a good location?Open the map

Crawley, RH10

No schools in this postcode area 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 · 1 came back clear · 4 we could not check · 2 do not apply to this property

■ from the listinglisting last seen 19 Sep 2026

Which strategy wins?The ways to run it

Short-stay let beats Standard rental by £456 a month

Short-stay let also ties up the least cash, £65,542.

Short-stay let+£349 · £65,542 in

3 nearby short-lets within 20 km · low confidence

Standard rental−£107 · £65,542 in

Housing-benefit rent−£397 · £65,542 in

Each row: money kept a month, then the cash it ties up. Not compared: Rent by the room (only 1 bedroom) · Do it up, then remortgage (pays back at the remortgage) · Guaranteed council rent (no scheme in this borough) · 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, after 5 years?The five-year sums

−£10,892 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 £65,542 you put in. The 5-year fix runs past this 5-year hold, so the rate reset comes after it.

−£65,542+£197,819−£4,945−£131,250−£6,974−£10,892

Cash you put inSale valueSelling costsMortgageRent lossesYou are down

◧ 2.0%/yr growth assumed