Care property · For developers and investors
Finding a tenant who can hold the lease
The operator is the asset. A twenty-five year lease is only worth the covenant behind it, and in this sector covenants fail for reasons a normal property due diligence exercise will not surface — a rating drop, an embargo, one authority pulling a framework.
Who the tenant might be
Care providers
Residential and nursing. The agreement sits directly with the operator, usually full repairing and insuring, often index-linked.
Housing associations and registered providers
The route for supported and specialised supported housing. Different covenant, different rent basis, longer to agree.
CICs and charities
Often the right cultural fit for supported living and community schemes. Covenant needs looking at honestly.
Your own operating company
Higher return, higher risk, and a regulator relationship you now own. See mobilisation.
What we actually do
- Build a shortlist from operators who are active in that client group, in that region, and who are in a position to take on a new service — which is not the same as being interested.
- Test the scheme against what each operator needs, so you are not sending the same particulars to twenty providers.
- Run the covenant and regulatory due diligence before introductions, not after heads of terms.
- Sit in the commercial conversation and translate. Developers and care operators use the same words for different things, and rent per bed is the one that causes the most damage.
An operator who agrees to your rent without arguing is a warning sign, not a win. If the rent does not work against the fee income they can realistically earn, you have not let the building — you have delayed the vacancy by about eighteen months, and you will be re-letting a building with a failed service in it.
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How strong is this operator as a tenant?
Six things about a prospective tenant that change how much weight their signature carries. Rating, trading history, scale, accounts and enforcement position.
Fees on this piece
Operator search is a success fee against the first year's passing rent, payable on completion of the lease. If we cannot find you a tenant, you do not pay for the search. Due diligence on an operator you have found yourself is a fixed fee.
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.