Rented normally, it costs you £58 a month. That is £699 a year, every year you hold it.

Will it pay?Calculator

You top up £58 a month — the mortgage takes 41p of every pound of rent

Borrowing £10,752 less would close that shortfall — which is £10,752 more cash at the start, on top of the deposit.

£406 mortgage

£600 running

£986 rent in£58 short

◧ market rent £986 · 92 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

£34,500 + refurb costs

And about £3,494 more over five years, because it loses £58 every month you hold it — before any repair. That already assumes the rent never falls.

£34,500 to buy it

~£12,558

deposit · stamp duty · solicitor · feeswe haven’t been inside

□ works not inspected

What would have to be true?The working

£10,000 off and it stops losing money

At the asking price you feed it £58 a month. At £85,664 the rent covers everything — leaving stamp duty of £4,283 at that price.

offer £85,664

asked £100,000

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

What will the rent borrow?Lender test

The rent carries the whole loan — it could fall 28% and still cover it

Your deposit is what limits this one, not the rent. Lenders test the rent at 7.5% and need it to cover 145% of the payment.

£680 needed

of £948 rent

stressed at 7.5%, 145% cover

◧ rent after empty weeks £948PRA-style test

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

Salford, M50 1DH

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

£3,050 a year in charges for the building, owed even when nobody is living there

The contract the property is sold under sets these charges, and they can go up over the years.

2 problems found · 3 came back clear · 2 we could not check · 2 do not apply to this property

■ from the listinglisting last seen 14 Sep 2026

Which strategy wins?The ways to run it

Guaranteed council rent beats Standard rental by £107 a month

Let it to the council and you keep £107 a month more, and they keep paying when it is empty.

Guaranteed council rent+£49 · £47,058 in

Standard rental−£58 · £47,058 in

Housing-benefit rent−£208 · £47,058 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

−£9,408 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 29% in the price would leave nothing from a sale after selling costs, and you would still owe the lender any shortfall. That is the £47,058 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