Care Home Solicitors in Gloucestershire
If you own, run or plan to buy a care home, the legal issues you face are different from those in almost any other business sale or purchase. A care home is a regulated business, a substantial property and a community of residents and staff, all at the same time. Getting the legal work right protects each of those things.
Tayntons advises care homeowners, operators and buyers in Gloucester, Cheltenham, the Forest of Dean and across Gloucestershire. Our corporate and commercial property teams work together on every transaction, so the business sale and the property that goes with it are handled together.
How can we help
Our care homework covers three connected areas:
- Buying and selling care homes as a business: the structure of the sale or purchase, due diligence, CQC registration on a change of provider, staff transfers and completion.
- The commercial property side of care home transactions: freehold and leasehold purchases and sales, care home leases, sale and leaseback arrangements and property due diligence.
- Funding and security: advice on lenders’ requirements, security documents and funding arrangements for care home purchases.
Selling your care home
Many care homeowners are selling a business they have built up over many years, often as part of their retirement planning. A sale like this needs careful preparation. Buyers will scrutinise your CQC history, occupancy, fee arrangements, and the property before they commit, and the process must be managed sensitively so that staff, residents, and their families are not unsettled by speculation.
Our Buying and Selling a Care Home page explains the process from a seller’s point of view, including preparing for due diligence, keeping the sale confidential and what happens to your CQC registration.
Buying a care home
Buying a care home might be your first step into the sector or an addition to an existing group. Either way, two early decisions determine everything that follows: whether to buy the company that owns the home (a share sale) or the business and its assets (an asset sale), and how to plan for CQC registration, which cannot be transferred from the seller to you. We explain both, along with due diligence and the legal process from heads of terms to completion, on our Buying and Selling a Care Home page.
The property side of your transaction
In most care home deals, the property is the principal asset. Whether the home is freehold or leasehold, whether a sale and leaseback could release capital, and what the searches and survey reveal can each change the shape of the transaction. Our Care Home Commercial Property page covers ownership structures, planning and use-class issues, property due diligence, and security for lenders.
Why choose Tayntons
Our care home work is led by Shelley Bonney, an associate solicitor in our corporate team. Shelley qualified as a solicitor in 2008 and acts for clients on the acquisition and disposal of business interests, structured as either asset or share sales, for clients across a range of sectors, including the care sector and day nurseries. Because most business purchases involve borrowing, Shelley also works closely with lenders and advises on security documents and funding arrangements.
On the property side, Shelley works with David Henson and Kate Gibbons, associate solicitors in our commercial property team, who advise business owners and investors on commercial property transactions across Gloucestershire and beyond.
Tayntons is one of the oldest law firms in Gloucester and holds the Law Society’s Lexcel accreditation for practice management and client care.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a specialist solicitor to buy or sell a care home?
Care home transactions involve issues that do not arise in a standard business or property sale, including CQC registration, staff transfers and the regulatory history of the service. A solicitor who understands how these fit together can prevent delays, particularly around the timing of registration.
How long does it take to buy or sell a care home?
There is no fixed timescale, but most care home sales take several months from agreeing terms to completion. On an asset sale, CQC registration is often the pacing item, as the CQC’s own guidance notes that registration can take a few months.
Which areas do you cover?
We act for clients in Gloucester, Cheltenham, the Forest of Dean and throughout Gloucestershire, and can support care home transactions further afield.
Do you advise on CQC registration?
We advise on how CQC registration affects your transaction, including the applications buyers and sellers need to make on a change of provider and how to time them alongside the sale. For the operational content of an application, such as your statement of purpose as well as governance documents, we recommend involving your management team or a specialist care consultant early.
Talk to us
To discuss buying or selling a care home, in Gloucester, Cheltenham, Stroud, the Forest of Dean or anywhere in Gloucestershire? call us on 01452 522 047, email info@tayntons.co.uk, or request a callback. We are proud to have our legal services rated as ‘Excellent’ on ReviewSolicitors.
