Rented normally, it costs you £103 a month. That is £1,232 a year, every year you hold it.

Will it pay?Calculator

You top up £103 a month — the mortgage takes 64p of every pound of rent

Borrowing £18,956 less would close that shortfall — which is £18,956 more cash at the start, on top of the deposit.

£1,016 mortgage

£619 running

£1,593 rent in£103 short

£175 of that is a guess — no service charge published.

□ 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

£84,775 + refurb costs

And about £6,161 more over five years, because it loses £103 every month you hold it — before any repair. That already assumes the rent never falls.

£84,775 to buy it

deposit · stamp duty · solicitor · fees~£11,052, 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 £103 a month. At £224,707 the rent covers everything — leaving stamp duty of £13,229 at that price.

offer £224,707

asked £250,000

◧ 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 £169,019 of the £187,500 loan

That £18,481 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.

£1,699 needed

more than the £1,532 rent

stressed at 7.5%, 145% cover

◧ rent after empty weeks £1,532PRA-style test

How big is it, really?The plan

The plan and the advert, side by side 592 sq ft

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

□ area off the floorplan — not a survey

Is it a good location?Open the map

Cambridge, CB5 8LZ

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

■ from the listinglisting last seen 12 Sep 2026

Which strategy wins?The ways to run it

Short-stay let beats Standard rental by £445 a month

Let it to the council: £4,644 a year less, but they keep paying when it is empty.

Short-stay let+£342 · £95,827 in

17 nearby short-lets within 5.5 km · medium confidence

Standard rental−£103 · £95,827 in

Guaranteed council rent−£490 · £95,827 in

Housing-benefit rent−£688 · £95,827 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) · 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

−£13,148 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 £95,827 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