Pass the Keys

Over the past two years, she’s overcome unprecedented challenges both in her personal and professional life with remarkable resilience and determination.

With the backing of a supportive franchisor, Natalia has built a portfolio of over 50 properties and reached her goal of joining PTK’s prestigious £1m NBV (net book value) Club earlier this year.

“I pinched myself this year because I can’t believe where I am today,” Natalia says.

“When you go through challenges like I have, you don’t think you’re inspiring, but now I’ve come out of the other side and I can reflect on things, I’m like ‘wow, I’m impressed!’”

Entrepreneurial spirit

Natalia left her job as a HR Consultant for Scottish Power in 2019 to pursue her dream of launching her own business.

After working as a part-time weight loss consultant for three years, she finally made it her full-time career. Yet, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was missing.

“I wasn’t being challenged enough,” Natalia explains. “I was bored with my corporate job, and I was bored with my small business, so I was looking for the next opportunity.”

Natalia searched the internet for franchising opportunities, and when she discovered Pass the Keys it ticked all the right boxes.

“Although I worked in the corporate world for 10 years, prior to that I worked in tourism – managing bus tours, a themed restaurant and a sales centre marketed towards tourists visiting Costa Blanca in Spain,” she reveals.

“So, I was familiar with the Airbnb concept as a traveller, and I understood the importance of an exceptional guest experience. So that’s what brought me to Pass the Keys.”

Natalia approached the franchise in October 2020 and became a franchise partner just two months later, before starting her training in January 2021.

At the time, she was juggling her responsibilities as a new start-up with looking after a toddler, but the demands of parenthood certainly didn’t slow her down.

“Managing both roles was a challenge, but I was ready for it. I just needed something else, and this was it.”

A flying start for Natalia as COVID-19 restrictions lift

For Natalia, a series of fortuitous events made her first year in business an outstanding success.

Lockdown restrictions had recently been lifted when she started trading in March 2021 and she was met with a staycation boom.

“To make a property management franchise work, you have to fill your properties, and in that first year I had no problem whatsoever on that front,” Natalia recalls.

“Added to the mix were lots of property owners who had either been stung by tenants who couldn’t or didn’t pay the rent, or they couldn’t let their property because of lockdown. So, they had lost money and were looking for ways to make this back, and short-term letting was a good way to do that.”

Natalia’s business also benefited hugely from the 2021 COP26 Conference, which took place in Glasgow that year.

“People from all over the world came to the city for the conference and needed a place to stay,” she explains. “It put my business on the map. It was insane.”

Natalia had scaled her business to 35 properties in the first 12 months and went on to win the Franchise of the Year Award at the 2022 PTK Conference.

But just over a year later, the franchise entered a period of profound uncertainty as Glasgow City Council introduced some of the toughest short-term let restrictions in the UK.

Tough regulations

On October 1, 2022, the Scottish Government announced that anyone looking to operate a short-term let for the first time will need a licence before they do so.

Those who were already operating short-term lets before this date were told they must apply for a licence by April 1, 2023 (a date that was later moved to October 2023) if they wish to continue doing so.

In addition, local authorities were given powers to put their own restrictions in place when it came to short-term lettings.

“At that time, Glasgow City Council made it clear that they would not grant any licenses in the Glasgow area for properties with shared communal access, such as a flat,” Natalia explains.

“That was deeply concerning for me because nearly all of my properties, and I had around 50 at the time, had shared communal access.”

Ten days before the October 2023 deadline, a court case ruled that a council could not implement a blanket ban on short-term lets, specifically finding it unlawful to refuse a licence simply because a property is a tenement building.

This meant that Natalia had 10 days to help her clients apply for licences.

“It was absolute chaos,” she says. “This type of policy had been talked about for years, but it had never been at the top of the political agenda, and all of a sudden it was. It became a huge part of my working life.”

Unfortunately for Natalia, 45 out of the 50 property owners on her books had their licence applications denied. 

“There were about five properties that were going to be okay – they either had main door access or were located outside the city,” she explains. “A further three owners decided they would pay for a lawyer to appeal the ruling and it took so long for the council to make a decision that they were granted their licences.”

Natalia was faced with offloading her remaining properties in her portfolio by mid-2024. But rather than standing still, the franchisee completely evolved her operation and rebuilt her host base.

“While all of this was going on, I started to rebuild,” Natalia says.

Personal struggles

At the same time as the new legislation was coming in, Natalia was also trying to find a way through the toughest of personal struggles.

“In April 2022, my daughter was diagnosed with leukaemia,” she shares. “So, we were faced with two and a half years of treatment. It was the worst thing that ever happened to us.”

Happily, her daughter made a full recovery, and three years on Natalia shares how her franchise carried her through the most difficult times.

“Even when you go through challenging things in life, you still have to have some sort of distraction, or something for yourself,” she explains. “So, I had to take care of the business because we still needed an income.”

Rebuilding the business

With new regulations in place in Glasgow, Natalia started to look at other council areas where she could take on new properties with ease.

“I found that in other council areas, the process for applying for a licence was a lot less restrictive. It was a case of ‘meet the criteria, submit your application and we’ll come and inspect everything from a health & safety perspective’. It makes more sense, ” Natalia explains.

Natalia has also added Glasgow properties with main-door access to her portfolio, in a bid to rebuild her business. In addition, she found a gap in the market for mid-let stays.

“Mid-let stays, or extended stays, are for families or individuals who may have to temporarily relocate for work, or they may have had water damage to their property and need a place to stay for a few months. These kinds of lets make up around 30% of my business now,” she reveals.

Supporting sensible legislation

From Pass the Keys’ perspective, the brand fully supports sensible regulation within the short-let sector. Clear, well-designed legislation is essential for raising standards, improving guest safety, and ensuring a level playing field.

While implementation can be challenging, particularly where local authorities take differing approaches, Pass the Keys believe constructive dialogue and consistent frameworks benefit everyone: operators, homeowners, and communities.

The focus is always on helping franchisees and hosts navigate these changes confidently and responsibly, adapting quickly and providing clear and actionable guidance so that compliance becomes straightforward, not stressful.

Entering the million-pound club

At the start of 2025, Natalia set an ambitious target of building a £1 million business by January 2026. Remarkably, despite the unforeseen challenges she has faced, the franchisee not only reached this goal three months early, but also rebuilt her portfolio, growing it to 54 properties.

Explaining her motivation for achieving this particular target, she says: “There’s a PTK franchise in Anglesey – they’re fantastic – and they won an award at the annual conference in January for entering the £1 million NBV Club. My ears pricked up. I was like, ‘what’s this and how do I join?’.”

“Honestly, I was sitting there and writing a plan about how I could get into that club,” she adds, laughing.

Sharing how she reached her target in record time, Natalia says: “The only way to do it was to increase my portfolio and increase my bookings. That would have been very difficult two years ago, but this year I had a new strategy. We got the licences outside the city, and we secured extended stays.

“£1 million sounded like a crazy achievement in January, but now I want to get to £2 million!”

Future ambitions

Going into 2026, Natalia has fire in her belly to take her PTK franchise to the next level.

“There’s scope to grow even more. In April, I hired an Operations Manager and she’s fantastic at handling the day-to-day management of cleaning, maintenance and improving the guest experience, and that has given me time to focus on new onboards and strategy,” she says.

“I have a new area in my portfolio which I would love to consolidate and create a second operational base there to service those properties.”

Reflecting on her franchise journey so far, Natalia says the challenges she has faced have only made her more resilient and determined to succeed.

“There were many, many months where I thought it was game over. But then I’d get up and think ‘what am I going to do about this? What solutions can I come up with?’,” she says.

“Sometimes things don’t work out, or go the way you expect them to, but this only makes you stronger.”