Owner tools
Sell it, or let it? Run both routes.
Three numbers in, both answers out — net proceeds if you sell, net income and yield if you let, with every assumption printed. No email gate, nothing sent anywhere.
For owners at a crossroads
Sell it, or let it?
Moving on but tempted to keep the house as an investment? It is the question we are asked most weeks — and the honest answer is arithmetic, not instinct.
Put in three numbers and the advisor works both routes with our published fees and realistic running costs:
- Sell — your likely net proceeds after our 1.3% inc VAT fee, conveyancing and the mortgage.
- Let — your realistic net annual income after management, maintenance, insurance, certificates and voids, and the return that represents on the equity you would be leaving in.
Every assumption is printed under the tool. Nothing is emailed, nothing is gated.
Sell or Let? Advisor
If you sell
- Our fee (1.3% inc VAT, min £3,300)
- Conveyancing (typical)
- Mortgage repaid
- Net proceeds
If you let
- Gross rent (12 months)
- Running costs & voids
- Net annual income
- Gross yield
- Net return on your equity
A guide, not advice. Letting also means landlord tax on the income, possible capital gains tax later, and your lender’s consent to let. Selling a former home within the CGT rules is a conversation for your accountant — we’ll happily join it.
The assumptions, in full
| Sale fee | 1.3% inc VAT of value, minimum £3,300 |
| Conveyancing (sale) | £1,650 |
| Management | 13.2% / 8.4% / 0% of rent by service level |
| Maintenance allowance | 8% of annual rent |
| Landlord insurance | £320 a year |
| Safety certificates & EPC | £190 a year, averaged |
| Void allowance | 2 weeks a year |
| “Comfortable” net return | 4.5% on equity |
How to read the result
The advisor deliberately answers a narrower question than “what should I do with my life”: on realistic running costs, does keeping the house pay you properly for the equity you would leave in it?
We call 4.5% net-on-equity “comfortable” because below that, most owners are working for a return they could approach with far less risk and no boilers. Above it — and especially if the mortgage is small — letting can genuinely be the better route, provided you do not need the capital for the next purchase.
What it leaves out, on purpose
Tax. Income tax on rent depends on your band and finance costs; capital gains tax on a former home depends on your years of occupation and the current reliefs. Both belong with your accountant, and we will gladly join that conversation. The advisor also assumes a realistic-but-smooth world: one void fortnight a year, averaged maintenance. Real years are lumpier.
What we can add in person: whether your street lets as well as it sells (they are not the same market), and what the achievable rent honestly is — book a rental appraisal and we will give you both numbers.
Ellcott & Mayne · Harrogate
Want the two inputs checked?
The advisor is only as good as the value and rent you feed it. We’ll give you evidenced figures for both — free.