Rented normally, you'd make about £207 a month.

Will it pay?Calculator

£207 of every £2,606 is yours to keep, each month

You keep 8p of every pound of rent. The mortgage takes 64p.

+£2,606−£1,660−£690−£49£207

Rent inMortgageRunning costsTaxProfit

Rent £2,606, modelled from 26 nearby lettings

◧ market rent £2,606 · 26 comps2 empty weeks a year assumed

What if I change my assumptions?The dials

At the asking price, 25% deposit, 6.25% charged

Change any of these 16 and every card on this page changes with it. The 6.25% is the 5.50% quoted plus a company premium.

◧ worked out from local rents

What will it cost me to buy?Breakdown

£148,275 + refurb costs

£42,025 of that never comes back — stamp duty, solicitor and lender fees.

£148,275 to buy it

deposit · stamp duty · solicitor · fees~£19,213, 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 £425,000 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

What will the rent borrow?Lender test

The rent carries £276,499 of the £318,750 loan

That £42,251 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.

£2,889 needed

more than the £2,506 rent

stressed at 7.5%, 145% cover

◧ rent after empty weeks £2,506PRA-style test

Who has to say yes?Council record

Bristol, City of approves 78% — 74% on a cautious reading

A council-wide rate, not a forecast — and Bristol, City of refuses schemes that sandwich a family home. Check both neighbours.

78%

0%50%100%

never approvesalways approves

the band is the cautious reading of the same 409 decisions — as low as 74%

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

How big is it, really?The plan

The plan and the advert, side by side 1,020 sq ft

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

AdvertFloorplan

1k sq ft1k sq ft1.1k sq ft

1,010 sq ft1,054 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

Bristol, BS7 9HX

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.

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

■ from the Article 4 maplisting last seen 19 Sep 2026

Which strategy wins?The ways to run it

Nothing here beats a plain let

Standard rental also ties up the least cash, £167,488.

Standard rental+£207 · £167,488 in

Rent by the room−£20 · £205,488 in

Housing-benefit rent−£475 · £167,488 in

Short-stay let−£1,133 · £167,488 in

23 nearby short-lets within 5.5 km · low 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) · Guaranteed council rent (no scheme in this borough) · 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, after 5 years?The five-year sums

−£1,831 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 £167,488 you put in. The 5-year fix runs past this 5-year hold, so the rate reset comes after it.

−£167,488+£483,023−£12,076−£318,750+£13,460−£1,831

Cash you put inSale valueSelling costsMortgageRent keptYou are down

◧ 2.0%/yr growth assumed