Rented normally, you'd make about £190 a month.

Will it pay?Calculator

£190 of every £2,556 is yours to keep, each month

You keep 7p of every pound of rent. The mortgage takes 64p.

+£2,556−£1,625−£696−£45£190

Rent inMortgageRunning costsTaxProfit

Rent £2,556, modelled from 51 nearby lettings

◧ market rent £2,556 · 51 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

£139,150 + refurb costs

£39,150 of that never comes back — stamp duty, solicitor and lender fees.

£139,150 to buy it

deposit · stamp duty · solicitor · fees~£17,420, 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 £399,999 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?Comparables

We can't tell — nothing nearby is alike enough

The dearest sold for 1.8× the cheapest, so the rent has to justify this price on its own.

you'd pay £399,999

£319,000

£400,000

£400,000

£415,000

£415,000

£425,000

£425,000

£435,000

£445,000

£470,000

£500,000

£575,000

£319k£447k£575k

£319,000 cheapest£575,000 dearest

12 completed sales, same property type, last 3 years

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

What will the rent borrow?Lender test

The rent carries £271,194 of the £299,999 loan

That £28,806 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.

£2,719 needed

more than the £2,458 rent

stressed at 7.5%, 145% cover

◧ rent after empty weeks £2,458PRA-style test

How big is it, really?The plan

The plan and the advert, side by side 735 sq ft

Two figures for this house, and neither is a survey. Open for both.

AdvertFloorplan

725 sq ft735 sq ft745 sq ft

725 sq ft745 sq ft

neither is a survey — a tape measure settles it

□ area off the floorplan — not a survey

Is it a good location?Open the map

London, E16 3NR

4 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 4Not assessed for this address

■ 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.

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

■ from council licensing registerlisting last seen 06 Sep 2026

Which strategy wins?The ways to run it

Nothing here beats a plain let

Let it to the council: £6,288 a year less, but they keep paying when it is empty.

Standard rental+£190 · £156,570 in

Rent by the room−£255 · £182,570 in

Guaranteed council rent−£334 · £156,570 in

Housing-benefit rent−£579 · £156,570 in

Short-stay let−£1,200 · £156,570 in

23 nearby short-lets within 5.5 km · medium confidence

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, after 5 years?The five-year sums

−£1,410 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 £156,570 you put in. The 5-year fix runs past this 5-year hold, so the rate reset comes after it.

−£156,570+£454,133−£11,353−£299,999+£12,379−£1,410

Cash you put inSale valueSelling costsMortgageRent keptYou are down

◧ 2.0%/yr growth assumed