Money

IS YOUR BUY TO LET STILL PAYING?

Most yield figures flatter the truth. We help landlords find the real answer and improve it: honest maths on your actual return, and a free session with a lettings expert and a mortgage broker.

Run your numbers, free

Report Landlord Economics in 2026: Why No One Is Getting Rich 28 pages - Phil Shelly, Chair - May 2026 Read the full report

The report

The squeeze no one is talking about.

No single change did the damage, so no single headline covers it. Added together, five quiet changes have pushed the typical landlord's return below a Cash ISA. Most landlords own one property and make under £10,000 a year: small businesses, absorbing a decade of policy.

Read the full report

2% → 5% Mortgages repriced as pandemic-era fixes expire; monthly interest more than doubles

+26% Maintenance costs since 2022; the London average is now £3,197 a year (Towergate)

20.4% Typical London full-management fee, inc VAT, unchanged by periodic tenancies

+£300 A year in new essentials under the Renters' Rights Act, with Section 21 gone

1.9% Rent growth and slowing (Zoopla), while every cost line above it rises

-£1,440

What the average leveraged London landlord loses each year on the agent route.

And of eight typical scenarios in our report, only one beats a Cash ISA on income alone. Landlord Economics, May 2026, by Phil Shelley, Chair; sources include HMRC, Zoopla, Rightmove and Towergate.

Money

Updated Jul 2026

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Money

Updated Jul 2026

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Money. Free tool

The Landlord Economics Calculator.

Your real annual return on the capital tied up in your property, after every cost the Landlord Economics Report counts. Same method, your numbers.

Your property.

Property value

Monthly rent

Ownership

Loan to value %

Mortgage rate % interest only

Loan to value is capped at 95% here. Above that there is almost no equity deployed, so a return on equity stops being meaningful.

Who runs it

Your income tax band

Include a realistic void: 21 days between tenants, once every 3 years The report's own sensitivity. Each week empty costs about 2% of annual rent.

Assumptions you can change

Region sets the agent fee and maintenance defaults

Agent fee % of rent, inc VAT

Repairs and maintenance a year

Referencing, inventory, rent insurance a year

Compliance certificates a year

Easy-access Cash ISA rate %, the comparator. As of April 2026

Self-managed letting cost is fixed at £59 every three years with Get Rented, about £20 a year.

Your numbers.

0.0% a year, after tax, on the equity you have tied up in this property

With an agent

Managing it yourself

Rent a year

Mortgage interest

Agent fee

Maintenance, compliance, protection

Tax (Section 24 basis)

Net cash a year

A Cash ISA on the same equity

See the full line-by-line breakdown

The headline is free and stays free. The detail costs one email, and we will send you your numbers to keep.

Read the full report

Illustration aligned to the Hello Neighbour Landlord Economics model (May 2026). Not financial or tax advice; figures are estimates. Unless you tick the void option, the model assumes no empty periods, and it excludes ground rent, service charges, licensing and capital growth throughout, as the report does. Tax is modelled on the Section 24 basis: income tax at your band on profit before mortgage interest, less a 20% credit on mortgage interest, never below zero. A limited-company landlord's position differs. Cash ISA comparator rate shown as of April 2026 and editable above.

30 minutes, one session

The Property Money MOT.

Half an hour, your numbers on the table, two people who look at this all day: a Hello Neighbour lettings expert and a mortgage broker. You leave knowing exactly where your return is leaking and what to do about each leak.

Your rent against the current market
What your letting and management set-up really costs
Your mortgage: rate, term and whether a broker can beat it
Protection, voids and the risks worth paying to remove

Mortgage discussions are with a regulated mortgage broker partner. Hello Neighbour does not provide mortgage, tax or financial advice.

30 min

One session, two experts.

Video call or phone. Bring your mortgage statement and your latest agent invoice if you have them; rough numbers work too.