Buy-to-let questions, answered
The questions people ask most before buying a rental property, and before trusting a source like us. Each answer stands on its own and links to the lesson that works it through.
To start buy-to-let in the UK, plan on cash of about a third of the purchase price, a 25% mortgage deposit, a 5 percentage point stamp duty surcharge in England, and running costs of a quarter to a third of the rent. The answers below give the figures behind each of those, and say plainly who Clarity is and how it is paid.
Getting started in buy-to-let
- How much money do I need to start buy-to-let in the UK?
- As a working rule, about 30% to 33% of the purchase price in cash: a 25% deposit plus stamp duty at the additional property rates, legal and survey costs, and a starting buffer. Roughly 40,000 to 50,000 pounds opens up properties around the 120,000 to 150,000 pound mark in higher-yielding areas. Affordability basics.
- What deposit do I need for a buy-to-let mortgage?
- Usually 25%. Most buy-to-let lenders lend up to 75% of the price, a few go to 80% at noticeably higher rates, and the most competitive rates start around 60% loan to value. The rent must also cover the interest by 125% or 145% at a stressed rate. Buy-to-let mortgages explained.
- How much stamp duty is there on a buy-to-let?
- In England and Northern Ireland, the standard bands plus a 5 percentage point surcharge on the whole price: 11,500 pounds on a 200,000 pound buy-to-let. In Scotland, Land and Buildings Transaction Tax plus the 8% Additional Dwelling Supplement on the whole price: 17,100 pounds. In Wales, Land Transaction Tax at the higher rates for additional homes: 10,700 pounds. Stamp duty calculator.
- What is a good rental yield in the UK?
- Most UK buy-to-let purchases complete at gross yields between 5% and 8%. Below about 5.5% it is hard for the rent to cover a stressed mortgage at 75% loan to value, and yields above 9% usually price in extra risk worth investigating. Understanding rental yield.
- How much should I budget for running costs?
- Plan for 25% to 35% of the gross rent to go on running costs before the mortgage: agent fees, maintenance, insurance, safety certificates and an allowance for empty months. On 12,000 pounds of annual rent that is 3,000 to 4,200 pounds. Running costs and void periods.
- Should I buy a buy-to-let through a limited company?
- It depends mainly on your income tax band and whether you reinvest the rent. Higher-rate taxpayers with mortgages often pay less tax in a company; basic-rate taxpayers who spend the income usually do no better. Moving an existing property into a company normally triggers stamp duty and capital gains tax. Limited company vs personal name.
- How do I choose where to buy?
- Shortlist three to five areas where the yield covers a stressed mortgage, tenant demand is backed by jobs or a university, prices are at least flat in real terms, and enough homes sell that you could exit in a normal marketing period. No single number is enough on its own. How to choose a buy-to-let location.
About Clarity
- Who is behind Clarity Property Investments?
- Clarity Property Investments is a UK property research company. Clarity Investment Capital Ltd, trading as Clarity Property Investments, is registered in England and Wales under company number 17040524. Registered office: 12 Jonson Road, Neston, CH64 9TF. Registered with the Information Commissioner's Office under reference ZC131575. About Clarity.
- Is Clarity independent?
- Yes. Clarity has no commercial relationship with any developer, housebuilder, estate agent, lender, broker or property manager, so nobody pays to appear in or move up the rankings. The only income is the sale of location reports, at £39 each or £249 for all of them for a year. Any relationship would be listed publicly before it was signed. Commercial relationships.
- Is Clarity financial advice?
- No. Clarity publishes research and tools built from public data. It is not regulated financial advice, and Clarity is not a lender, mortgage broker or estate agent. Before buying, take advice from a mortgage adviser, a solicitor and an accountant who know your circumstances. Terms of service.
- Where does Clarity's data come from?
- From official public sources, each named next to the figure it produced: HM Land Registry and Registers of Scotland sold prices, the UK House Price Index for price history back to 1995 (2004 in Scotland), ONS rents and population, the ONS Business Register and Employment Survey for jobs by industry, the MHCLG and Scottish Government energy performance certificate registers, Police.uk crime, Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales and SEPA flood maps, MHCLG and the Welsh and Scottish governments for housing delivery and planning designations. Clarity does not scrape property portals. Where UK house price data comes from.
- How often is Clarity's data updated?
- Monthly. The data pipeline re-reads each source on a fixed schedule and rebuilds the rankings and every report. Each report states the window its figures cover, because sources publish on different timetables and some lag by a few months.
- Which parts of the UK does Clarity cover?
- England, Wales and Scotland: 977 towns, London boroughs and Scottish council areas. Northern Ireland is not covered, because the sold price data the rankings depend on does not include it. Where a source stops at a national border, the report says so and names the source used instead. Open the investment map.
- How does Clarity rank places?
- On price, rental yield, price growth, tenant demand and risk, measured from public data and compared against the budget you set. Your budget is priced in each nation's own purchase tax (stamp duty in England, Land Transaction Tax in Wales, LBTT with the Additional Dwelling Supplement in Scotland), and a yield in a market where prices fell over ten years is scored after taking off the annualised fall. The ranking is free to use on the investment map, with or without an account. The six-signal location method.
How Clarity reads the figures
- Does Clarity account for Scotland's LBTT and the Additional Dwelling Supplement?
- Yes. Every place carries its nation, and both the ranking and the reports charge that nation's purchase tax. A Scottish buy-to-let pays Land and Buildings Transaction Tax plus the 8% Additional Dwelling Supplement on the whole price: 12,100 pounds at 150,000, against 8,000 pounds of stamp duty in England and 7,500 pounds of Land Transaction Tax in Wales. The investment map works out what your cash buys in each nation separately, so a Scottish council is only called affordable after the supplement is paid. Stamp duty, LTT and LBTT calculator.
- Why doesn't a very high yield, like Aberdeen's, put a place at the top of Clarity's ranking?
- Because a high yield in a falling market is partly the fall: yield is rent over price, so when prices drop and rents hold, the yield rises. In Aberdeen City flats yield 8.5% gross, but prices moved -30.3% over ten years, 35.7% below the year to May 2015. Mining and quarrying, there the North Sea oil and gas industry, is 12.5% of jobs against 0.14% across Great Britain. Clarity's ranking takes the annualised ten-year fall off the yield before scoring it, and the map and place pages show the decade, the distance below the peak and the industry jobs depend on. For Aberdeen that is 3.5 points a year. See it on the investment map.
- Does Clarity tell me anything about the condition of the homes in an area?
- Yes, at area level. For 977 of the places Clarity ranks, it shows the share of lodged energy performance certificates below band C, from the MHCLG register in England and Wales and the Scottish Government's in Scotland, and in Scotland the same share for privately rented homes. That is the share of the local stock likely to need energy-efficiency work. It is not a survey of any one property: Clarity measures areas, so get a survey and read the certificate of the home you buy.
- Are the house price forecasts Clarity shows a forecast for my area?
- No. Where Clarity quotes a five-year forecast it is a named forecaster's figure for a whole region or nation, such as Savills' for Scotland, printed with that region's name beside it. It is not a forecast for the town or council you are looking at, and Clarity does not use forecasts in its ranking.
Reports and pricing
- What is in a Clarity location report?
- A PDF research report on one local authority: sold prices and volumes, rents and yields for each type of home, price growth, crime per resident and worker, flood risk, planning designations, housing delivery and regeneration funding, and a worked buy-to-let deal on your own budget. Every figure names its source. Browse the report library.
- How much does a Clarity report cost?
- One report costs £39 and stays open for 90 days. All the reports together cost £249 and stay open for a year. Neither renews. There are no credits and no subscription. The investment map, the calculators and every report's cover page are free.
- Can I see a report before I buy?
- Yes. Every report's cover page, with its headline figures, is free to read from the report library, and one complete report for Liverpool is free to read in full, so you can see exactly what a report contains. Read a cover or the sample.
- Can I get a refund on a report?
- Within 14 days of purchase, if you have not opened the report you bought, you get a full refund without giving a reason. A report that is missing a section, contains a figure we have to withdraw or is not as described is refunded whatever you have opened. Refunds and cancellation.
- Do I need an account?
- Not to browse. The map, the calculators, the guides and the report covers are open to everyone. An account is needed to buy a report, because access is recorded against it.
Written by the Clarity Property Investments research team. Last reviewed 8 October 2026. This article is general information, not financial or tax advice.