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/

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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 👇