Healthcare and social real estate

The UK’s need for housing, healthcare and education services is rising with a growing population and increasing longevity. However, sector budgets and funding are constrained by demand. Against this backdrop, private investors, developers and operators are stepping in to support the sector, recognising the opportunities and addressing society’s future needs. Our healthcare and social real estate team has an intricate understanding of the pressures and opportunities they face.

Integrated support for a broad client base

Our specialist practice comprises experts from real estate, construction, corporate, planning, housing, disputes and tax. Together, the combined skills of our lawyers allow them to support investors, developers and operators alike with their legal requirements. Our wide-reaching client base includes institutional investors, funders, family offices, developers of senior living and care homes, as well as those with specialist needs and medical facilities, charities, housing associations, GPs and dental surgeries. We fully understand the individual nuances between client type within the sector.

Many organisations are attracted to the healthcare and social real estate sectors for long income investments, including sale and leasebacks, commercial ground leases and income strips. We support several institutional funds investing in this way to ensure clear income streams which are typically index linked. Our team acts swiftly to meet tight deadlines and is adept at managing large investment portfolios. We also identify potential risks to investors, whether on completed assets or in connection with additional security required for development and forward-funded schemes.

For developers, we provide a seamless service across the entire development lifecycle, ranging from site acquisition and assembly to disputes, tax, corporate share sale and purchase, planning, construction, forward funding and asset management. Our specialist building and fire safety team offers advice and guidance on remediation measures, regulation and building safety law compliance.

Dynamic, hardworking and insightful team that provide real value through a broad knowledge base and a keen understanding of our business and what we want to achieve in any given scenario.

Whether you are looking to invest, develop, or manage your properties and portfolios, our team is here to assist you in navigating the complexities. We can help you achieve your goals, whether that’s to ensure the product is saleable to the investor market, to secure an income strip or put an opco-propco arrangement in place with an institutionally acceptable lease to offer flexibility down the line.

How we help our clients

Acquisitions and disposals

Development and development funding including forward funding

Landlord and tenant matters

Portfolio management and protection

Property matters arising out of provider restructuring and merger

Asset finance

Corporate and governance matters

Contractual dispute resolution matters

Tax

Penningtons has detailed knowledge and a pragmatic approach. It has always been quick to respond and it has a commercial view, rather than getting immersed in points of law.

Penningtons help to demystify complex deals and understand the client’s needs.

The Penningtons team has an extremely strong mastery of detail.

The firm’s particular strengths include their impressive legal knowledge, consistently conscientious and diligent work, and unfailingly friendly, respectful and professional demeanour.

The firm understands the asset they work on and the commercial drivers of their client.

Recent work highlights

Private equity acquisition of holding vehicles

Supporting an international private equity fund on the real estate aspects of the corporate acquisition of holding vehicles which owned two major development sites in Birmingham and Southampton with planning permission for 290 retirement living units.

Local authority housing scheme

Advising Cornall Council and Treveth on the set up and delivery of a scheme to deliver some 2,600 homes including properties designed for older people, those with special needs, key worker accommodation and council-owned market rented homes.

Listed company multi-use development

Acting for a listed company on the development of 40 retirement living apartments, a 70-bed care home along with a 28-bed specialist care facility, public house, dental surgery, infrastructure including car parking, landscaping and highway works.

Leeds care home development site

Acting on the purchase of a development site in Leeds for a care home developer. This involved multiple transfers including restrictive covenant issues.

Refinancing with a new lender

Assisting a healthcare group’s refinancing of its existing indebtedness to a new lender, negotiating the complex facility agreement and the security documentation.

NHS trusts income strip leases

Acting for an institutional investor on income strip leases with various NHS trusts, involving forward funding, forward commitments, and direct acquisitions.

Luxury care home development

Advising a luxury care home provider on acquiring a development site with consent for an 80-bed care home, liquidating the target company, hiving up the asset into an offshore trust, and multi-million pound refinancing of the site.

Care homes purchase and leaseback

Representing a long income fund on the acquisition and leaseback by way of commercial ground leases of a portfolio of care homes with a lease term of 40 years, annual index linked rent reviews and cross collateralisation provisions.

Multi-phase refurbishment

Advising Nazareth Care Charitable Trust on a significant, multi-phase seven-year refurbishment of Nazareth House in London, addressing sensitivities and design control due to the historic nature and ongoing ecclesiastic use of the convent.

Complex financial facilities

Supporting a borrower healthcare group on its finance arrangements with a major clearing bank, negotiating the complex facility arrangements and the numerous security documents, and providing detailed guidance on unfamiliar new SONIA provisions.

Guidance on group restructuring

Advising the owner of two care facility groups that provide facilities for mental health rehabilitation, dementia, and elderly care on a group restructuring of 11 separate limited companies, including on the legal aspects of the restructuring and drafting documentation.

Private equity-backed chain disposal

Acting on the private equity-backed disposal of a pharmacy chain due to the negative effects of drug price volatility, NHS regulatory changes and increased operational costs, including several asset sales as a group sale was not viable.