Buy To Let

Overview

Property Prospector supports three types of property investment: buy to let, buy to let as HMO, and buy to sell.

Buy to let involves buying a property to rent to one or more tenants. Some investment may be required, depending on the condition of the property when purchased; and sometimes a property is sold with an existing tenant (yay!).

Your Property Prospector account includes financial calculators to give you an idea of expected outgoings and profits, which can be customised to your level of investment.

✨✨ PaTMa also offers a fantastic suite of tools to manage your rental properties. ✨✨

Creating a Buy-to-Let Scenario

You'll need a property added to your Shortlist first; then select the property and you should find the Plan tab opens by default (if not, choose the Plan tab now).

Click Add Plan and you'll be presented with a financial plan for the property, with some values estimated based on property type, list price, and so on.

There are typically three costs to a buy to let:

  1. Acquisition - the cost to purchase the property.
  2. Refurbishment - how much refurbishment is needed before the property is suitable to let.
  3. Ongoing Expenses - the costs of maintaining the property to a reasonable standard for your tenants, including any bills that you pay.

You'll also have one source of income:

  1. Rental Income - the amount your tenants are paying you in rent.

Property Prospector takes all these into account when calculating your buy to let plan.

Acquisition

Your initial investment - buying the property - is set up first. If you don't have these numbers, we'll try to estimate them for you based on the list price of the property.

The Acquisition Plan is discussed in more detail here.

Refurbishment

Toggle the Refurb field on if you intend to refurbish, repair, or upgrade the property. A new form will be added allowing you to add costs and timeframe:

  • Expenses - add the costs for building work, council tax, and utilities. You can change each one to a monthly, annual, or one time fee.
  • Add - add any other expense not covered by the above.
  • Expected duration - how long you intend to hold the property for (ie: for recurring fees, how many installments will you pay).

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Rental Income

Scroll to the Revenue field and change it to BTL. There are a few fields to fill out, and you'll see the calculations update on the right as you make changes to the figures here.

  • Agent - if you use a letting agent, add their fee or their percentage of rent.
  • Maintenance - set a budget for maintenance, usually as a percentage of rent.
  • Voids - opportunity cost if the property is empty for a period of time.
  • Expected monthly rent - the amount you intend your tenants pay. Prospector will suggest a value for you, but you can adjust it to whatever you think is realistic.

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Click Save Plan to store the financial overview.

Viewing Plans

Each stored plan for a property is summarised on the Plans tab for the property.

You can compare them at a glance, and click Details for more information or to edit a plan.

All types of plan are displayed here.

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⚠️ Property Prospector does not tell you how realistic your figures are - these are calculations based on your input. Please consult a professional before making decisions on any of these figures.

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