Care property · For developers and investors
If you would rather operate it than lease it
The returns are materially better and so is the control. What you take on in exchange is a regulator, a workforce and a duty of care that does not pause because the building is finished.
What the decision actually involves
| Lease to an operator | Operate it yourself | |
|---|---|---|
| Return | Rent, index-linked, predictable | Trading profit, higher, volatile |
| Risk | Operator covenant | Occupancy, staffing, rating, enforcement |
| Regulator | Not yours | Yours, personally, including the nominated individual |
| Time to income | On completion of the lease | Registration, then a fill period of six to twelve months |
| Exit | Sell the investment | Sell a business, which is a different sale entirely |
OpCo and PropCo
Most developers who operate end up separating the property from the operating business, with the OpCo paying rent to the PropCo. It protects the asset if the service fails, it makes the eventual sale cleaner, and it means the regulator is looking at a company whose accounts are about care.
It has to be set up properly. CQC looks at the financial sustainability of the registered provider, and an OpCo loaded with a rent its trading cannot support is a registration problem before it is a commercial one.
What mobilisation covers
Registration
Provider and manager applications, statement of purpose, the interview. CQC or Ofsted depending on the model.
A registered manager
Recruited and in post before you apply, because the application goes nowhere without one. Find me a manager.
Policies and systems
Not a folder of documents. The systems the service will actually run on, and training the team to use them.
The first year
Referral routes, commissioner relationships, and being inspection-ready before the first inspection rather than after it.
Registration is not the finish line, it is the starting gun. A registered building with no referral pathway is an empty building with a monthly fee attached. The commissioning relationships need building while the scheme is still on site.
Fees
Mobilisation is a fixed fee per scheme, scoped once we know the model, the client group and the regulator. Ongoing compliance after opening is a monthly retainer. Both are quoted before anything starts.
Tell us about the site
Thirty minutes, no charge, and nothing to buy at the end of it. If the scheme will not let, we would rather tell you now than take a fee to find out slowly.