Resources and sources

Every figure in Before You Sign the Lease carries the date it was read at its source. This page holds the links behind each one, chapter by chapter, with the date it was last read, plus the animated and interactive twins of the book's figures. The April checklist at the foot says which figures change each spring and whether this edition's are still current.

Edition 1.0. Figures checked 12 and 13 October 2026. April 2027 check: not yet due.

• Chapter 0
• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4
• Chapter 5
• Chapter 6
• Chapter 7
• Chapter 8
• Chapter 9
• Appendix B
• Appendix D
• Paper workbook
• April checklist

Chapter 0: How to use this book

No external sources: this chapter is arithmetic on Chapters 4 to 6 (see those lists).

Chapter 1: The number most guides get wrong

Chapter 2: Rent you can actually afford

Chapter 3: The full opening budget

Chapter 4: Sales you can defend

Chapter 5: The costs that arrive every month

Chapter 6: Twelve months of cash

Chapter 7: Break-even and the stress test

Chapter 8: Reading the deal before you sign

Chapter 9: Go, renegotiate or walk

Appendix B: the April refresh checklist

Appendix D: Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

The paper workbook

Appendix F of the book is a paper version of every workbook table, for working through a site with a pen. Download Appendix F as a PDF (five pages).

Buyers of the book and workbook bundle already have the Opening Numbers Workbook. A workbook-only edition for readers of the Amazon editions will be listed here when those editions are published.

The April checklist

Checked 13 October 2026. Next check: 1 April 2027.

Four kinds of figure in the book change on or around 1 April every year. Each line below gives the figure as read on 12 or 13 October 2026, where it lives in the book, and the official page to read. If this page says the figures are out of date, they are.

Wages

In the workbook: change the hourly rate on the Monthly Costs tab. Everything downstream (true cost per hour, employment cost, contribution, break-even, the cash valley) recalculates.

Employer costs

In the workbook: the Monthly Costs tab has one cell for each. Change the cell; the rota recosts itself.

Business rates and property taxes

In the workbook: the Rent Affordability Test tab holds the multiplier and the relief thresholds. Change them; the rent stack and the maximum rent recalculate.

VAT and other thresholds

The rule. Every April, before the book is used for a real decision: read the official page for each line above, write the new figure and the date in the workbook, and if any line cannot be checked, treat the chapter’s figure as unknown rather than as still true. The result of the publisher’s own April check is posted here, with the date.

Corrections, the review, the book

Corrections and updates The Opening Numbers Review The book and workbook

The book is not legal, tax, accounting, surveying or investment advice. Take professional advice before you sign anything.