The calculator’s digits spun like a slot machine. The base tax was one thing, but that 3% levy added a staggering £7,350 to the bill. The total jumped from a manageable few thousand to nearly £10,000 before he’d even bought a tin of paint.
He closed the laptop. The calculator didn't just provide a sum; it provided . In the high-stakes game of buy-to-let, the first profit isn't made when you sell—it's made when you calculate the entry fee correctly.
The mahogany desk in Arthur’s study was cluttered with three things: a cold cup of Earl Grey, a worn ledger, and a glowing laptop screen displaying an .
The screen flickered. Because Arthur already owned his family home, he was hit with the —the "second home" premium designed to cool the market for investors.
He typed "245,000" into the first box. Then, he clicked the toggle that changed everything: “Is this an additional property?”
By midnight, the calculator had told Arthur a hard truth: the Manchester house was a vanity project at its current price. The numbers—those cold, unfeeling pixels—had saved him from a five-figure mistake.
