The Scottish Property Podcast

Most investors look at a floor plan and see a two-bed. Ross McIlvean looks at the same floor plan and sees £15,000–£20,000 of hidden value nobody else spotted. 🏗️

In this episode of the Scottish Property Podcast, Nick and Steven sit down with Ross McIlvean of LTJ Architecture — property investor, architect, and one of the most practically useful guests to appear on the show. Ross covers everything from his nana's buy to let that got him started, to his first flip in Woodbank, building a six-property portfolio entirely in one street in Dunfermline, the illegal attic conversion he bought at £115k and got valued at £180k, and a brand new static caravan STL down at Pease Bay.

This one is packed with genuinely actionable advice on 2-bed to 3-bed conversions, planning vs building warrants, how to price refurbs, and why Ross never buys anything that doesn't start with Weatherburn.

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Intro: Ross McIlvean joins the podcast
00:34 Ross’s background and route into architecture
01:22 Why buildings and local architecture matter
04:35 Architecture that adds commercial value
05:11 Ross’s first step into property investing
06:17 Property education and learning the basics
07:49 Ross’s first flip in Cowdenbeath
10:26 Why flipping is harder in today’s market
11:45 Using architecture to unlock hidden value
13:13 Pricing refurbs and understanding project costs
17:48 How architects price their work
19:57 Building a portfolio after the first flip
21:12 Turning two-bed properties into three-beds
23:52 Removing chimneys and changing layouts
26:34 Minimum bedroom sizes and practical layouts
28:51 Solving an unofficial attic conversion problem
31:13 Undoing bad work to make a property compliant
33:44 Rental growth in Dunfermline
35:39 Ross’s static caravan investment
38:37 Moving from employment to self-employment
42:13 Working with Jay Alexander and the Flour Mill project
45:36 Starting LTJ Architecture during Covid
48:34 Planning delays and the council process
49:50 Planning permission vs building warrant
52:01 Retrospective building warrants and why they’re risky
54:21 Building control inspections and completion certificates
55:12 Ross’s role through the design and approval process
56:20 AI, architecture and design visuals
59:57 What’s next for Ross and his portfolio
1:04:56 How to connect with Ross
1:05:47 Final thoughts

CONNECT WITH ROSS
Instagram: @ltj.architecture
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ltjarchitecture/

NETWORKING EVENTS
First Wednesday of every month
📍 Aberdeen | Dundee | Edinburgh | Glasgow
Follow our socials for speakers and details

SPONSORED BY
Prime Property Auctions — earn £1,500 just for sending a WhatsApp. If you know someone selling a property, John and Lewis will pay you £1,500 or 1% of the sale price (whichever is higher) just for passing on their details. They've paid out over £350,000 in referral fees so far.
👉 https://primepropertyauctions.co.uk/

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💬 Would you buy everything in one street like Ross? Drop it in the comments 👇

He's your accountant by day and a 54-unit landlord by night. And he charges less than you'd spend on a Friday night out. 🏠

In this episode of the Scottish Property Podcast, Nick and Steven sit down with Matt Herbert — qualified property accountant and 54-unit investor across Aberdeen and Edinburgh. Matt covers everything from his dad being made redundant and discovering property by accident, to doing refurbs after work in his finance job, building a 54-unit portfolio, and why he'd rather help investors structure their businesses properly than charge a fortune for it.

If you've ever wondered what a property accountant actually does for your portfolio — this is the episode to watch.

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 – Welcome to Matt Herbert — accountant and 54-unit investor
00:14 – Qualified property accountant at the Glasgow networking events
00:28 – 54-unit buy to let portfolio across Aberdeen and Edinburgh
00:52 – Why Aberdeen is controversial — and Matt's take on it
01:30 – Growing up: dad moved from Wales to Aberdeen for oil and gas
02:06 – Dad made redundant and retrained as a teacher — the lesson it taught Matt
05:54 – Dad's first property: rented to his girlfriend
06:54 – Oil and gas crash 2015 — everyone made redundant
10:40 – First investment property — and the finance stories
12:41 – The First Home Fund: government equity stake explained
14:03 – Planning to buy a bigger home — and how it changed
15:30 – First refurb: doing it himself after work in Edinburgh
16:59 – What clients actually want: financial freedom and passive income
21:45 – Ex-council and social housing stock — what to know
24:27 – Aberdeen market deep dive — buying flats under £40k
24:43 – Partnering with Aiden — sourcing and project management
26:39 – Finding deals at offers over £45k and getting them down
27:57 – Target ROI: 20–25% on all capital invested
28:42 – Aberdeen pitfalls: what to watch out for
28:52 – Structural issues in Aberdeen stock — the same problems everywhere
37:43 – The condemned street nobody saw coming
40:34 – Porous concrete explained — and why it's a serious problem
42:38 – Net cash flow reality: why Aberdeen yields aren't always what they seem
48:41 – Edinburgh: inflated rents and the Alex Walker connection
55:33 – Shareholder structure: getting the limited company right from day one
57:40 – Year end tax planning: what to do when the bill hits £50k
1:00:15 – Mortgage strategy: 75% LTV, five-year fixes
1:00:33 – Set and forget — why Matt loves boring, stable assets

CONNECT WITH MATT
https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-herbert-fcca-76558a8a/
https://www.facebook.com/matthew.herbert.980
https://ljyaccountants.co.uk/

NETWORKING EVENTS
First Wednesday of every month
📍 Aberdeen | Dundee | Edinburgh | Glasgow
Follow our socials for speakers and details

SPONSORED BY
Prime Property Auctions — earn £1,500 just for sending a WhatsApp. If you know someone selling a property, John and Lewis will pay you £1,500 or 1% of the sale price (whichever is higher) just for passing on their details. They've paid out over £350,000 in referral fees so far.
👉 https://primepropertyauctions.co.uk/

🔔 Subscribe so you never miss an episode
👍 Like if you found this valuable
💬 Would you do your own refurb to save money? Drop it in the comments 👇

He built a short term let business to 70 units and 20 staff — then walked away at 29 to start from scratch. The very next day he went to view a hotel. 🏨

In this episode of the Scottish Property Podcast, Nick and Steven sit down with Laurence Malyon — founder of Moment aparthotel brand — for one of the most wide-ranging conversations they've had on the show. Laurence covers everything from running concerts for the neighbours at age 5 and rebranding his family's fire suppression business at 15, to building Donnini Apartments with his uni flatmate Jake, exiting after seven years, and launching a hospitality brand that just did a £2.325 million deal on Edinburgh's George IV Bridge.

This one is packed with lessons on business partnerships, aparthotel strategy, STL licensing, commercial funding, and why Glasgow and Edinburgh are completely different beasts.

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 – Welcome back to Laurence & what he's been building since
01:08 – Exiting Donnini & launching Moment hotel brand the very next day
01:58 – Growing up in a rundown farmhouse near Beattock
02:59 – The family fire suppression business
03:36 – Rebranding the family business at 15
05:15 – Why London and Dubai are the real competition
07:41 – Running concerts for the neighbours at age 5
09:01 – Selling fruit and veg to teachers for profit
10:39 – First flip at uni with Jake
13:47 – Discovering Airbnb as it was becoming a thing
14:10 – Touchstone / Progressive property training
16:59 – The rent to rent model that started it all
17:26 – STL legislation: why serviced accommodation is so much harder now
19:40 – Planning consent: licences, planning, or both
28:45 – The plan to go beyond Edinburgh and Glasgow
33:25 – Becky, the business conversation that changed everything
34:22 – The Moment trademark — what it means and why he owns it
35:00 – 12 George IV Bridge Edinburgh — the flagship deal
38:07 – £2.325 million on practical completion
39:39 – RBS as main lender — the journey to get there
40:22 – Oak North bank and how they got funding over the line
47:28 – First hire CJ — building the team
50:00 – Remote team in the Philippines
52:41 – 18% management fee — how it's structured
59:01 – Sonder went bust: lessons from the big operators
1:01:18 – Stay Cool: what the brand offers and why it's different
1:03:40 – Expansion plans: Lisbon, Paris and beyond

CONNECT WITH LAURENCE
Moment Aparthotels: momentstays.com
@moment.stays on Instagram

NETWORKING EVENTS
First Wednesday of every month
📍 Aberdeen | Dundee | Edinburgh | Glasgow
Follow our socials for speakers and details

SPONSORED BY
Prime Property Auctions — earn £1,500 just for sending a WhatsApp. If you know someone selling a property, John and Lewis will pay you £1,500 or 1% of the sale price (whichever is higher) just for passing on their details. They've paid out over £350,000 in referral fees so far.
👉 https://primepropertyauctions.co.uk/

🔔 Subscribe so you never miss an episode
👍 Like if you found this valuable
💬 Would you have walked away from 70 units to start again? Drop it in the comments 👇

Pension funds are quietly buying up rental homes across Scotland. If buy-to-let was dying, nobody told them. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Nick and Steven are back with the June market update — running on two hours sleep after Scotland vs Brazil — covering the Prime Minister change, house prices, the rental market, the LHA rate freeze that's about to hit 45,000 households, and a £10.8 million build to rent deal in Edinburgh backed by your pension fund. Yes, yours.

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 – Intro: Scotland vs Brazil, two hours sleep, six episodes to record
01:25 – What's coming up: PM change, house prices, rents, LHA & build to rent
01:50 – House prices & rental market overview
01:58 – Local housing allowance — why it matters to landlords
02:36 – Build to rent & pension funds flooding into Scottish property
03:27 – Keir Starmer resigns — what happened
04:18 – Andy Burnham likely next PM — and his history with rent freezes
04:28 – Rent controls in England: why Scotland is one step ahead
05:21 – Capital gains tax: what a new Labour leader could mean for landlords
14:20 – Fred Harrison's 18-year cycle — five months left for the 2026 crash prediction
15:36 – SpaceX IPO: Elon Musk becomes a trillionaire
20:01 – First Home Fund launched this week — will it empty in days again?
21:56 – Land Registry data: Scotland up 2.2%
23:57 – Bitcoin at $59k — down 50% from its peak
31:15 – LHA rate freeze: 87 of 90 regions can't cover the bottom 30% of rents
34:30 – Scotland's discretionary housing payment — sticking plaster or real solution?
35:52 – 45,000 households and 31,000 children affected
35:57 – Scotland puts in £8.7m in support
36:43 – Avant Homes sells 41 Edinburgh homes to Thriving Investments for £10.8m
37:52 – £263k per home — and who's actually funding it
38:19 – Is mid-market rent exempt from rent controls? The question nobody can answer

NETWORKING EVENTS
First Wednesday of every month
📍 Aberdeen | Dundee | Edinburgh | Glasgow
Follow our socials for speakers and details

SPONSORED BY
Prime Property Auctions — earn £1,500 just for sending a WhatsApp. If you know someone selling a property, John and Lewis will pay you £1,500 or 1% of the sale price (whichever is higher) just for passing on their details. They've paid out over £350,000 in referral fees so far.
👉 https://primepropertyauctions.co.uk/

🔔 Subscribe so you never miss a market update
👍 Like if you found this valuable
💬 Do you think pension funds investing in rental property proves buy-to-let still works? Drop it in the comments 👇

He had $300 to his name, sleeping on a mate's floor in Perth, Australia. Then a stranger in an empty pub changed everything — and 23 years later he owns 46 properties and manages 800 more. 🏠

In this episode of the Scottish Property Podcast, Nick and Steven sit down with David Lamb — founder of Orange Sales and Lettings in the North East of England. David's journey takes in steelworks apprenticeships, delivering tea bags with a wicker basket, a commercial conversion that doubled in cost during Covid, backpacking through Southeast Asia on passive income, and a chance meeting with a stranger in a pub that got him his first offshore job.

This one's got everything — the crashes, the lessons, the laughs, and a masterclass on building a letting agency from zero to nearly 1,000 properties under management.

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 – Welcome & David's story in numbers
01:01 – Growing up in Billingham, Teesside
01:36 – Private school, kicked out, and finding his feet
03:01 – Walking out on his business teacher after 6 weeks
04:19 – Delivering tea bags door to door with a wicker basket
07:17 – First flip: bought for £52k, made £26k, slept on the floor
10:13 – The 2008 crash — and two new builds he'd just completed on
11:39 – Why new builds off plan was his biggest property mistake
15:03 – Zero knowledge of leverage — the lightbulb moment
16:46 – 46 personal properties: the buy to let foundation
17:05 – Converting 17 offices into 11 apartments
22:44 – Made redundant from the steelworks
23:30 – Backpacking Australia & Southeast Asia
23:51 – $300 left, Perth, and an empty pub
24:29 – The stranger who bought him a pint and changed his life
25:21 – Email Paul Gordon — one message, one offshore career
29:53 – Earning offshore and feeling passive income for the first time
32:33 – Rich Dad Poor Dad, all the books, and going property shopping
34:58 – The 17-office business centre: bought for £450k
35:24 – Covid hits — £450k becomes £750k
37:10 – Starting Orange from a portacabin on site
47:04 – First hire Charlotte — and building the team
49:37 – First agency acquisition
51:01 – Asset purchases vs share purchases explained
51:48 – How David structures every agency deal
51:54 – The deal that'll take Orange over 1,000 properties
53:22 – Why relationships are the real currency in business
54:09 – David's sole role at Orange now: buying agencies
1:00:15 – Business rates, national insurance & the real costs of running a team
1:00:25 – AI in property management — what David is integrating right now
1:03:44 – Why AI will never replace emotions in property
1:05:44 – The bank conversion: planning, apartments & serviced accommodation
1:07:07 – Wrap up & Marbella plans

CONNECT WITH DAVID
@davidlambproperty on Instagram

NETWORKING EVENTS
First Wednesday of every month
📍 Aberdeen | Dundee | Edinburgh | Glasgow
Follow our socials for speakers and details

SPONSORED BY
Prime Property Auctions — earn £1,500 just for sending a WhatsApp. If you know someone selling a property, John and Lewis will pay you £1,500 or 1% of the sale price (whichever is higher) just for passing on their details. They've paid out over £350,000 in referral fees so far.
👉 https://primepropertyauctions.co.uk/

🔔 Subscribe so you never miss an episode
👍 Like if you found this valuable
💬 Would you have sent that email to Paul Gordon? Drop it in the comments 👇