Home/Care providers/Children's Residential Homes
Care-sector property
Property for children's residential homes.
Maine Property Solutions is a property company. We find, prepare and manage buildings — we do not provide care, support or supervision, and we are not registered with CQC or Ofsted. Care and support in any property we manage is provided by the registered provider, not by us.
We are looking for our first placement in this sector. Tell us the specification and we will look for it.
A children's home is the one setting in this lane where registration attaches to the individual home rather than to the organisation — and where planning permission is a precondition of that registration. That single fact makes property the hardest gate in the sector, and it is why an operator will talk to a landlord who understands it.
Who buys it
Who buys it — Children's Residential Homes
The local authority carries a statutory duty to secure enough suitable accommodation locally for the children it looks after, which is what creates the demand. But the buyer of a building is almost never the council: most homes in this sector sit in private ownership and private operation, so the property counterparty is the operator.
Who is registered, and who is not
Who is registered, and who is not — Children's Residential Homes
Ofsted, and the registration is per home. It is the person who carries on or manages the establishment who registers, not the owner of the building — the mirror image of the supported-living position, and just as important to state plainly. The definition turns on care and accommodation being supplied together by the same operator, and a placement can only be made into a home registered under Part 2 of the Care Standards Act 2000. Planning permission is a precondition of registration, which makes the planning position of a building the first question, not the last.
How it is paid for
How it is paid for — Children's Residential Homes
Fees are paid by the placing local authority to the operator. The building is bought or leased by the operator out of that income, so a property proposition here stands or falls on whether the operator can register and fill the home, not on a housing benefit route.
What the property has to be
What the property has to be — Children's Residential Homes
Small houses, not institutions. The sector runs at a mean of roughly three to four places per home, which means ordinary residential stock in ordinary streets — and it means the property that works is the property that reads as a family home rather than a facility.
What the lease looks like
What the lease looks like — Children's Residential Homes
Leases follow the operator's registration risk. An operator will not commit to a long term on a building that cannot be registered, so terms are usually conditional on registration being obtained, and the planning position drives the whole negotiation.
What the building has to carry
What the building has to carry — Children's Residential Homes
On top of the ordinary landlord duties this sector carries a fire regime specific to it, under which the fire and rescue authority has to be consulted. There is also a yearly look at whether the location of the premises is still the right one, and a standing requirement that where the building sits keeps children safe and that its design keeps avoidable hazards away from them. Those are operator duties, but the building is what answers them.
Honest limits
What is not possible here
Planning permission is a precondition of registration
In this sector planning permission is not a later hurdle — it gates the registration itself. A building that cannot reach the planning position it needs cannot become a registered children's home, however suitable it looks on a viewing. It is the first question to settle about any property here.
The line, drawn plainly
What we can do, and what we cannot
What we can do
- Find property against a written specification — size, layout, location, adaptation, tenure and the compliance set the building has to carry.
- Prepare it: works, furnishing, certificates and the paperwork a provider or a commissioner will want to see before it takes the building on.
- Manage the building afterwards, if that is what is wanted — repairs, contractors, certificate renewals and the landlord side of the relationship.
- Put the proposed terms, the works and the timetable in front of you in writing before anything is committed.
What we do not do
- We do not provide care, support or supervision, of any kind, to anyone.
- We are not registered with CQC and we are not registered with Ofsted. A landlord letting a building to a care provider is carrying on neither regulated activity and has nothing to register.
- We do not employ, supply or manage care or support staff, and we make no claim about the vetting of anyone else's.
- We hold no framework place, no contract and no position on any supplier list with any council, health body or government department.
- We hold no care-sector placement anywhere. Maine Property Solutions operates two properties, both in Coventry, and has no managed instruction in any sector.
The rest of the lane
Other care sectors we can source property for
Your Questions
Questions we get asked
Not covered here? Tell us the specification and we will answer for your situation.
Could Maine Property Solutions run a children's home?
No. We do not provide care, support or supervision and we are not registered with Ofsted. Registration attaches to the person carrying on or managing the home. We would be the landlord.
Why does planning matter so much here?
Because planning permission is a precondition of registration in this sector. A building that cannot get the planning position it needs cannot become a registered children's home, however suitable it looks. It is the first thing to establish about any property, not the last.
Have you placed a property with a children's home operator?
No. We are looking for our first placement in this sector. We have no placements in this or any care sector.
What size of property is actually wanted?
Small. The sector averages roughly three to four places per home, so this is ordinary residential stock rather than large buildings. If you instruct us, we would source against the registration specification you give us.