Rent profit is the total for the six tax years to April 2025, before tax. The sale price is the slider further down, so this picture changes as you move it.
From January 2027 the studio will be empty. We can sell it, find new tenants and sell later, or keep it for the long term. This page lets you move the numbers and see which choice leaves us with the most money by the end of 2031.
Rent profit is the total for the six tax years to April 2025, before tax. The sale price is the slider further down, so this picture changes as you move it.
Put it on the market once the tenants have gone and move the money into savings.
Find new tenants now, collect rent for a year or more, then sell with the tenant living there.
Carry on as now and hope the value recovers.
Each choice is followed for five years, January 2027 to December 2031. At the end everything is turned into cash, after tax, so the three can be compared fairly.
Each line is savings plus what the flat would fetch, after selling costs, if sold that month. The step down on the re-let line is the price cut for selling with a tenant in place.
Researched on 10 November 2026 from Land Registry, auction results, gov.uk, the council and lenders' own pages. The full report with every source is in the file report.md.
Likely range £110,000 to £140,000. Five flats in the block have resold since 2019, every one for 23% to 36% less than its new price. No studio this small has resold, so this is an estimate from slightly larger flats. Land Registry sales
No sale in the block has been registered since January 2025. One flat has failed at auction four times since, the last withdrawn at a £120,000 guide. A tenanted studio on Bath Road has sat at offers over £160,000 for 14 months. Flat 53 history
Of eleven lenders checked, six will not lend on it: five need at least 30 m² and one refuses former offices. Three accept it on paper. In the block's one matched pair, the tenanted flat sold for no less than the empty one. Example: The Mortgage Works
Two furnished studios in Atria House are advertised now at £1,100 a month. Nearby studios at £950 to £1,125 have taken 3 to 10 weeks to let, some with reductions. These are asking rents, not agreed ones.
It needs a 36% rise. That is about 10 years at 3% a year. Savills expects South East prices to fall 3.5% in 2027 and rise 9% in total over five years, with flats lagging. Some 2,900 new homes are planned in the town centre and at Horlicks. Savills forecast
Easy access 4.56% (Monument), one-year fix 5.19% (OakNorth), one-year fixed cash ISA 5.02% (Kent Reliance). Tax on rent and on interest is due to rise to 24% in April 2027. That was announced in the October Budget and is not yet law.
If let from February 2027, the earliest we could get it back empty to sell is about February 2028. We can still sell it with the tenant living there at any time. gov.uk guidance
Slough charges about £3,211 a year on a furnished empty Band A flat, against £1,606 normally. There is a 12-month exception while it is being marketed for sale or to let, so marketing must start straight away. Slough council
Rented homes are due to need band C by October 2030. Three flats in the block that were re-tested came out at C, recorded as double glazed. If ours is double glazed too, a new certificate may be enough. Otherwise storage heaters at about £400 to £800. Not guaranteed.
Re-let it in January, then sell with the tenant in place in two to three years. Take an offer of £130,000 or more if one comes first.
The reasons, in order of weight:
The risk: if prices fall 3% every year, re-letting for two years ends about level with selling now, and keeping for all five years ends £5,000 to £10,000 behind. If prices stay flat, re-letting is ahead of selling by about £5,000 to £7,000.
| If we are offered | Then |
|---|---|
| £130,000 or more, before a tenant signs | Sell |
| £120,000 to £130,000 | Close call. Sell only if being rid of it matters more than the money |
| Under £120,000 | Re-let |
Three facts would change this: a firm offer or valuations well above £130,000; rent turning out below about £950 or the flat taking months to let; or a large bill appearing, such as a jump in service charge, costly energy works or a building safety charge.