Home/Care providers/Probation Accommodation (CAS3)
Care-sector property
Property for probation transitional accommodation.
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.
CAS3 is transitional accommodation for people leaving prison without a settled address. It is commissioned by the prison and probation service through support providers, and — like asylum — there is no published direct landlord route into it.
Who buys it
Who buys it — Probation Accommodation (CAS3)
HMPPS commissions CAS3. Not a local authority, not an integrated care board. That single fact changes who a property conversation is with and how long the procurement cycle is.
Who is registered, and who is not
Who is registered, and who is not — Probation Accommodation (CAS3)
No care registration regime applies. The contract sits with a support provider rather than a landlord, and nobody registers the building. Separately, prison-leaver accommodation commissioned by the Ministry of Justice sits outside the scope of the supported housing licensing regime that is being brought in elsewhere — so the oversight route here is the contract, not a licence.
How it is paid for
How it is paid for — Probation Accommodation (CAS3)
Two mechanisms and no others: an HMPPS contract, or a local authority grant arrangement. There is no open market to sell into.
What the property has to be
What the property has to be — Probation Accommodation (CAS3)
Individual self-contained units, plus two, three and four bedroom properties. Ordinary residential stock, in other words, at a scale most landlords already own.
What the lease looks like
What the lease looks like — Probation Accommodation (CAS3)
Property reaches this sector through the support provider holding the contract, so the lease is with that provider rather than with HMPPS. The provider's contract length tends to set the appetite for term.
What the building has to carry
What the building has to carry — Probation Accommodation (CAS3)
Ordinary landlord duties, plus HMO licensing wherever unrelated adults share. Fire risk assessment, gas safety checks, fixed wiring inspection, alarms and freedom from serious hazards all attach to the building regardless of who occupies it.
Honest limits
What is not possible here
There is no published direct landlord route into this sector
CAS3 is commissioned by HMPPS through contracted support providers, Nacro among them. We have found no published route by which a landlord contracts with HMPPS directly. If a provider wants a building, we can source and prepare one; we cannot sell you access to a contract.
Being exempt accommodation does not exempt you from HMO licensing
The word exempt in exempt accommodation refers to housing benefit, not to licensing, and the two are routinely confused. Being exempt accommodation does not exempt a building from HMO licensing. Mandatory licensing is triggered by five or more people in two or more households; what kind of occupancy agreement people hold makes no difference to whether a building is an HMO; and the single care setting that regulations lift out of the HMO definition is a registered care home, which is not what any of this is. Additional and selective licensing schemes can catch a property below the mandatory threshold as well.
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.
Is there a direct route for a landlord?
Not one we can point you to. CAS3 supply runs through HMPPS's contracted providers — Nacro among them — and we have found no published direct landlord route. We would rather tell you that than sell you a pathway that does not exist.
Why does this sector exist at all?
Because reoffending is markedly higher for people released without settled accommodation. The accommodation is bought as a way of reducing that, which is also why the buyer is the justice system rather than a council.
Would you be the support provider?
No. We do not provide care, support or supervision. The contract sits with a support provider; we would be the landlord behind it, if a provider wanted a building.
Have you done this before?
No. We are looking for our first placement in this sector. We hold no HMPPS contract and no supply-chain relationship.