Assisted living bought out, $800 new service fees, no new contract--eek! What can I do?

The old contract should still be used until it runs out.

It would seem they would have presented a new contract once the old one ended - two rent increases in about 3 mos seems odd. Call an elder attorney.

Whether they had the right to or not, places will negotiate with you on monthly fees. Especially if you say you will move her out. If you do say that to them, you always have to make sure your able & ready to follow thru. Best of luck to you.

First off we need to realize that most senior care facilities are for-profit businesses. They are in the business, a very lucrative business, to make money. That being said the good ones do have their residents best interests in mind by keeping them happy and healthy.

Have you discusses the new charges with the new owners? Ask them why the new charges, are they hiring extra staff, or making physical upgrades to the facility? Perhaps there was a clerical error and someone overlooked the the charges for your mom.

Definitely contact the appropriate government office to express your concerns, too.

I am NOT a lawyer but have dealt with enough legal transactions for my work to know that when one party buys out another party, they also buy out their legal obligations such as the agreements you had. Get a lawyer.

You have two options that I can see. Take all the documents and information to an eldercare attorney for professional advice and also contact your local Office on Aging and ask for their input. Second, perhaps you need to look for another place and never, ever sign anything with legal representation first. These places are out to get money and they will do anything they can to get it. People just pay instead of inquiring and fighting it. Do this now until you get proper input and sign nothing further.

Take your notice to a lawyer who deals with elder law. Something seems off about this.

Imho, the contract may have had a clause in fine print. You may want to retain an elder law attorney.

I disagree with everyone who says there is nothing you can do. Any decent lawyer will tell you to look at your contract. Yes it usually says they can increase once a year (usually up to a certain percentage) but a new owner must honor all existing contracts. They cannot just ignore it and do whatever they please. Yes, call your state dept that supervises these places. If all else fails you may have to move your LO. I did it once and no regrets, but I also hope I don’t have to do it again. Good luck and be aggressive!

I suggest you call your State's Regulatory Agency, which has oversight for long-term care communities. In Missouri, it is the Department of Health and Senior Services. Ask what the process is for instituting new policies in long-term care communities. I know they have to give a 30-day notice in my state, and existing residents have to be "grandfathered in."

Typically, communities raise their rates once a year, but this sounds like it goes beyond the average rate increase.

When you speak with the State, be sure and let them know that you received no notice and your mom is independent with her ADLs (Activities of Daily Living) and only requires having her medication administrated. Also, let them know that you were always notified before this new administration and had to sign off when there was a price increase due to your loved one needed additional services, which was not done.

Remember, a community has to justify a charge, or they cannot charge it. If your mom is charged for a service that she does not use, you can challenge that charge and remove it from her bill. For the next few months, I would request an itemized bill, which they should provide. This will show a detailed listing of everything they charge for the month.

Let us know how this turns out.

I feel your pain. every year, my mom's place goes up. However, they are open to negotiation. I ask them to meet me 1/2 way on the new charges, and they do. Your point about the contract is interesting - many services covered under contract fell off this year due to Covid, especially social / emotional care, as residents in my mom's place were isolated to their rooms.
Prior to your negotiation, sit back and make a list of items that were expected under contract yet not delivered. Inquire as to whether a refund might be issued. If not, then move right into the increase in fees and ask how that is justified if past services weren't received. Of course do this all very nicely, in nice warm tones and with a smile :) - I've found this to be the best tool in getting needs met.

They know that you have no recourse because it is expensive to move your family member to another facility and the change very disruptive to them...so they know the majority of residents are just going to pay it.

It sucks but other than moving, there is nothing you can really do.  I would definitely set up a meeting with them to discuss the changes and your dissatisfaction with how they are handling the takeover.  That way you are totally aware of what is going to take place.  I would also ask them when and how they evaluated your mom to make the call about her care.

At my moms place, the monthly rent includes her apartment and her meals.  Outside of that, everything is extra.

I bet the new owners had some sort of resident meetings in Aug / Sept to verbally let residents know that changes were coming and in theory - rotflmao - get input from residents. It was probably posted in common areas that this was happening so totally provides new owners a CYA that residents “knew”. So now you have no recourse except to do what Geaton and others have said...... she moves out and you make sure she does whatever to have it be ok & within the 30 or 60 day notice as per her contract. Otherwise they will Bill her /you for what they think they can get away with.

The Nov letter informed y’all that it was coming so you had 60 days to evaluate and within time to send a letter notifying them mom was moving out.

Do you want to hard ball it and move mom ASAP and basically tell them to Foff & they are not getting paid? To me this depends on if there are 1. ooodles of other choices for mom to move into that can do her level of care easily and 2. IF mom is kinda judgement proof and 3. you personally did not sign off any financial responsibility AND 4. you have all paperwork from moms stay that shows this is the case. The AL will turn it over to collections eventually and that’s very much manageable - although not fun -if your an organized Pitt bullie personality and mom will let you take over dealing with all this. But if she’s gonna be all fretful & fearful, Personally I wouldn’t. I’d find a place, do the required notice to the old AL and move her.

AL, as most are totally private pay and without the strict staffing requirements of skilled nursing care, are real profit centers for the elder care industry. The big chains lowball the monthly rent but invariably have “add on’s” that can increase rent by 50%. AL make serious $ at least cost.

Because of this, my experience is that AL will do whatever to keep a resident from moving into a NH & possibly/ probably onto LTC Medicaid. My mom went into IL in a tiered place that went from IL to AL to NH & w a hospice wing. When she started having issues in her mid 90’s (Lewy), I wanted to have her go into NH section. They fought it big time, insisting she was AL and not wanting outside medical review input or needs assessment done. Her gerontologist - not affiliated with the place - told me it made more sense for her to go into NH as at her age, she was going to end up in skilled care in her near future, so why do a AL move now only to have to do a NH move later. Long story short, mom went into a NH at another facility. She did the jump to hyperspace from IL to NH bypassing AL or MC and applied for LTC Medicaid. It took abt 4 mos of every 3-5 weeks for her seeing her gerontologist to firm up her health care chart to clearly show “at need” for skilled nursing care. On retrospect it’s kinda unusual to get this done. But it can be done. If your mom is up in age & possibly could at all meet the criteria for MC or NH and if her finances are such that she will run out of $ kinda soon, I’d encourage you to see if you can get her into MC or NH that takes Medicaid now as a private pay resident and then she segueways into LTC Medicaid whether $ runs out. Entering as private pay has lots more latitude as to what their condition needs to be.

Let me guess...........a corporate chain like Brookdale bought out your mom's ALF? That's what happened in my folks' place and all hell broke loose. They raised ALL the rates on ALL the services immediately and kept looking for more and more add on's each and every month so we got to the point where the bill had gone up $2K a month for NOTHING. I moved them OUT of there and into a much better AL that is privately owned and much LESS expensive. No nonsense, no hidden fees, no incorrect bills, no corporate headquarters to deal with every month about ongoing issues that were never addressed, etc. The new AL does raise the rates once a year by about 3%, but that's standard across the industry.

You have no 'rights', that's laughable when others suggest you do. Your only 'right' is to say ENOUGH BS and move your mother OUT of there and into a privately owned AL where $$$$ isn't their #1 priority. They do exist. You just have to look for them and search them out.

Good luck!

Check your local laws by checking with an attorney who specializes in elder care. There may be laws in your state specifically regulating senior care communities. You should know your rights.

We sold assisted living and SNF in Dec. New owners immediately raised rent for 2021. We told clients that new owners would probably increase. Some tried to sue and some went to nursing home registry. All were unsuccessful.

There's an interesting issue here in terms of asset acquisition, which the sale of an AL facility would constitute.   The purchaser has acquired not only the physical assets of the facility, but also acquired the "customers".

I haven't worked on many asset acquisitions with "customers", but I have a vague recollection of one transaction back in the 1970s.   The seller had to notify all clients/customers of the transaction.  I don't recall whether or not the clients had any say-so though.

I'm guessing that you or your mother didn't get any prior notice of the sale so that you could make decisions then?

In terms of standing, I'm thinking that there's a possibility (probably remoted) that the old contract with the good firm might have provisions of notification before sale, but that's just a guess.   You could demand documentation for the new owner's right to make such changes, but I suspect the contract has some "weasel words" allowing the new owner to make changes w/o notification.

However, I don't think it would be prudent to waste time and money dealing with a new owner with such offensive tactics and lack of client focus.

I'd agree with Geaton: find another place.   And when your mother is safely gone, do some research on the new owner, find out if it's part of a chain, or held by an LLC, and notify them how they lost a good paying customer b/c of their insensitivity and irresponsibility.

Just a thought here

My Moms bill was 2500 for rent and board. 2500 for services. IMO, services can be adjusted as her needs go up. This 800 must be a minimum charge and may not be able to do anything about it. The rent, she has a lease right. I would think just like any lease, a new owner has to abide by the lease in place. When the lease is up, he has a right to increase the rent.

I just read that in my state 6.5% is the average increase in ALs.

Start shopping around. Voting with your feet and wallet is the most potent thing you can do. They've served notice on what kind of managers they're going to be so it's on you if you stay for the further disrespect. I know it is not easy to move and leave all things established and familiar (so I'm not being flippant in saying it), but it will only get worse from here if you stay.