If you’re wondering about costs, whether your mortgage is right, or want to learn more about leasing your properties to supported living providers, our FAQs help answer the most common questions we get from our own property investor members.
Supported living can be described as a living arrangement for a tenant who has support needs. From a property investor or landlord perspective, supported living offers a way to lease property for the longer term with all the associated benefits this brings.
Signing up to The Gateway membership will give you direct access to supported living providers who need homes like yours today.
Supported living providers offer longer-term lease opportunities, meaning your property will bring in a regular income whilst providing a safe, independent space for someone who needs it. During the lease period there are no voids to worry about and the management and maintenance are often covered by the provider, too.
Here at Supported Living Gateway, we feel it’s important for property investors to understand how supported living property investment works and that’s why we’ve created several training courses. From our online Discover course, to the in-depth Supported Living Strategy course our training is designed to help investors and property owners understand the many benefits of supported living and maximise the potential their property could hold.
If you choose to sign up to our Supported Living Gateway Portal today, you’ll gain direct access to our specialist Property Portal where you can list your property for our supported living providers to view.
You can also access our Buy To Order service where our care and housing provider members list the properties they need so you can target your property purchases to meet their specific requirements whilst building your own supported living property portfolio.
Supported Living Gateway membership costs £15 a month for Basic, £35 a month for Pro and £75 a month for VIP.
If a lease is successfully signed on your property through the Gateway service there is a one-off fee, the equivalent of one month’s rent +VAT and is only payable on successful signing of a lease. You can go here to find out more about our fees.
Supported living rents broadly fall into three categories and there are many factors that can affect the rent including type of tenant, the location, the type of property and the demand for property in that particular area.
Local Housing Authority rates: Some supported living providers offer LHA rates for supported living property that vary depending on location. Landlords often discount LHA rates but if the provider takes responsibility for voids, damage, insurance and there are no letting agent fees, then on a long lease this can quickly add up to be equal or even better than market rent on the open market. It’s important to work out the actual net income and we have some tools to help you with this (login to access the document bank).
Market rent: The majority of providers we connect with offer market rent for supported living schemes. When you consider this is market rent with no voids, no letting agent costs and often damages and wear and tear are covered, it’s a valuable option for property owners.
Above-market rent: Is also available via our portal, but often there needs to be a level of adaptation to a property to meet the needs of its future tenants.
Typically a supported living lease is anything from 2 to 7 years, although we do have some property providers looking to take up leases as long as 10, 20 or even 25 years.
There are many different leases available from the supported living providers we work with and, as always, we’re keen to support sustainable leases that work for all parties involved. We want property investors taking the lease to make sure they’re ultimately comfortable with the commitment they’re entering into.
If you own the property, we will need to see either the TR1, completion statement or mortgage statement. It will need to show your, or your company name, and the address of the property being uploaded.
If you have exchanged on the property but not yet completed, we will need confirmation of this from your solicitor, an email will be adequate.
If you have the property on a purchase lease option, then we will need to see the legal documentation agreeing the option, again showing your or your company name and the address of the property.
If the property is owned by a family member and does not have your name on the documentation, we will need you to confirm your relationship with that person, and confirm which of you would be signing the lease with the supported living provider, so we can ensure the contracts are signed by the right person.
If you have a rent to rent or management agreement with the owner of the property, we would need to see a copy of this agreement, and again we would need you to confirm which of you would be signing the lease with the supported living provider.
Yes, you will need to inform your insurance company about the tenant type and the lease arrangement you’re entering into.
Not all insurance companies understand supported living, but at Supported Living Gateway, we offer our members discounted access to our specialist insurance brokers.
This depends on the individual mortgage provider or lender so it’s important to ask them first. Not all lenders are happy to accept supported living tenants in your property and you may need to switch to a different lending product as you could be in breach of the mortgage terms.
If you sign up to The Gateway, you’ll be asked to confirm that you understand you will need to get consent to lease from your lender before you sign any supported living lease – this protects you and your future tenants. As part of your membership, we offer access to specialist mortgage brokers who are able to help you access compliant lending.
Some providers we work with don’t need any specialist adaptation as long as the property has gas and electrical safety certificates, meets fire regulations and has an EPC. If your property is a HMO, it’ll need to meet HMO standards.
Other providers may need a level of adaptation, such as slightly higher fire standards including more smoke alarms, or adaptation for service users who have more complex needs and may require changes to access. It’s important to remember there’s no obligation to adapt or change your property, but providers may ask you about adapting the property if they feel it will accommodate someone better. They may have access to grants to help fund this work or may offer you better lease terms if you pay for the work so it’s worth being open to any suggestions they have.
We have care and housing providers in most areas of the UK and are adding new ones every week. Our demand map is the best way to check where they are located.
Our providers are busy people and we can’t give out their contact details, or they would be inundated with calls. Our role at The Gateway is to make everyone's lives easier.
If you’ve already got a property, try listing it and let them come to you. They will be sent an email alert when your property is uploaded if they are looking for a property in your area.
If you haven’t got a property yet, you can find a provider to work with by looking through their Buy to Order property requests.
We have a wide range of providers who work with service users with a huge variety of support needs, this means we have providers looking for property of all types. We currently have providers looking for 1-bed flats, 2-bed houses, HMOs of all sizes, family homes, bungalows and blocks of one-bed flats of all sizes. There really is no typical property for supported living – what does matter is the quality of the property: supported living providers are looking for good, safe homes for the people they work with.
Yes, you can, in fact we encourage you to upload your property as early as possible during the refurbishment, or perhaps even before you start.
Make sure you clearly state your plans for the building and include as much detail as possible. Many providers are keen to get involved at an early stage to ensure that any adaptations that need to be made to suit future tenants can be dealt with during the refurbishment.
If the property remains c3 then there is no change, and the council tax will be payable by the care provider taking the lease (in a lot of cases they will get an exemption from the council).
If the building is c2 then business rates are applied, and again paid for by the care provider and council tax exceptions do not apply.
By accessing our site you agree to our privacy document and terms of use. If you purchase membership or training with us you agree to our terms of sale. These are all standard form documents.
If we are introducing you to an RP or care provider who has expressed an interest in your property because they found it on the Gateway, then we will ask you to sign a non-circumvention and fee agreement. This agreement sets out your responsibility to pay us our agreed fee if based on our introduction a lease is secured.