Sep 24, 2026
What if every new housing rule had to answer one question first:
will it increase or reduce housing supply?
Take the Escape the 9-5 Scorecard:
https://bit.ly/EscapeThe9-5Now
That's Rob Stewart's housing supply test, and after this
conversation I'd like to see it in law. I asked Rob what frustrates
him most about being a landlord. His answer was second-order
consequences: policies that go into the system with good intentions
and come out the other end hurting the very tenants they were meant
to protect.
So we played it out. Rob became the evil landlord, I evicted him,
and we followed his ten families back to the council and into
emergency accommodation. Then we got into where the shortage really
is. Rob doesn't think the UK is short of property. He thinks we're
short of the bottom rung, the studios, small flats and HMO rooms
for people starting out, and that the brownfield buildings already
standing in our towns could become them.
I got on my soapbox about why renting shouldn't carry a stigma and
why buying your child a house in their university town rarely makes
sense. I also told the story of a council house near us, two small
children, bare floorboards and mould on the walls. That was not a
private landlord. We finish on profit versus profiteering, why the
standards people credit to the Renters' Rights Act have been law
for years, and what Liverpool has done with its licensing fees.
Rob Stewart is an ex-RAF fighter pilot turned property developer,
with around fifteen years in brownfield regeneration, converting
commercial buildings into homes across the Midlands and the North.
He self-manages a portfolio spanning HMOs, mixed-use, commercial
and residential property, wrote the book Property Unicorns, and has
put together his own ten-point housing manifesto. He's back on the
podcast to talk through where it starts.
EXPECT TO LEARN:
- Rob's housing supply test, the one question he would put to every
new housing policy
- Why uncertainty pushes landlords out, and why fewer landlords
means higher rents for the tenants who stay
- What happens to ten families when one landlord sells up, and what
emergency accommodation costs the council each month
- Why Rob believes the real shortage is starter homes, not property
in general
- How converting existing brownfield buildings could do more for
net zero than ripping out working gas boilers
- Why I would think twice before buying a house for your child to
live in at university
- How a £10,000 grant to a private developer compares with a
£100,000 council-tendered unit
- The difference between profit and profiteering, and why most
landlords are simply charging market rate
- Why the standards credited to the Renters' Rights Act were
already on the books, and the question I have about Liverpool's
£500-a-property licence
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 What frustrates Rob most about being a landlord
01:23 Four-year election cycles and the Renters' Rights Act
03:57 The housing supply test, and why uncertainty drives landlords
out
04:53 Evicting the "evil landlord": where do ten families go?
08:11 Empty high streets and empty student flats
09:57 The real shortage: starter homes
11:19 Brownfield conversions and net zero
13:22 Is the UK obsessed with home ownership?
14:40 Buying your child a house at university
17:52 Why renting shouldn't carry a stigma, and the missing
stepping stone
19:37 Flexibility, mobility and living in community
21:07 Joining the dots: conversions, councils and skilled
trades
22:06 What the agile private sector does that housebuilders
won't
23:56 "Just let the council build"
26:08 A council-tendered unit versus a grant to a private
developer
27:15 Landlords as entrepreneurs
29:53 Profit versus profiteering
31:38 Risk, arrears and who the rules actually apply to
32:08 The council house with bare floorboards
34:44 These standards aren't new
36:45 Licensing in Liverpool: where does the money go?
37:25 Building the bottom rung and fixing apprenticeships
39:02 Why we need a 20 to 30-year plan
FOLLOW THE GUEST ROB STEWART:
Website: https://www.robstewartglobal.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robstewartglobal/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robstewartproperty
FOLLOW THE HOST VICKI WUSCHE:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vickiwusche/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VickiWusche
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vicki_wusche/
Take the Escape the 9-5 Scorecard:
https://bit.ly/EscapeThe9-5Now
Join the Wealthy Life Community: https://bit.ly/Join-WLC
LISTEN TO A WEALTHY LIFE:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/VickiWusche
Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/nz/podcast/a-wealthy-life/id1617293196
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/13lVRTAioD5mR4XUiylAk8
#HousingCrisis #Landlords #RentersRightsAct #PropertyInvesting
#AWealthyLife