Should I Buy to Let?UK property investment calculator

Hypothetical example

What might a £300,000 buy-to-let look like?

This illustration follows a simple interest-only scenario from purchase cash to annual pre-tax cash flow.

Purchase assumptions

Purchase price£300,000
Interest-only mortgage£150,000
Equity contribution£150,000
Illustrative additional-property SDLT£20,000
Legal, survey, works and other costs£8,500
Total initial cash before reserve£178,500

Rental and operating assumptions

Monthly rent£1,650
Annual contractual rent£19,800
Occupancy95%
Collected rent£18,810
Management fee: 10% of collected rent£1,881
Service charge£1,500
Illustrative repairs provision£2,000
Mortgage interest at 5%£7,500

Year-one pre-tax cash flow

£18,810 − £1,881 − £1,500 − £2,000 − £7,500 = £5,929
Gross yield6.6%
Pre-tax annual cash£5,929
Pre-tax cash-on-cash3.3%

The gross yield looks materially higher than the cash-on-cash return because it ignores vacancy, operating costs, mortgage interest and the purchase costs included in the investor’s cash.

What is still missing?

This simplified first-year illustration does not include personal income tax, insurance, mortgage product fees, compliance costs or an operating reserve. A full decision should also model future rent and cost changes, refinancing, major repairs and a possible sale.

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About this example

Figures are illustrative and are used to explain the calculation. They are not a market forecast or recommendation.