You realized that you no longer want to live in your own home. You wanted the freedom from having to make your own meals. You no longer wanted the responsibility for cleaning and maintaining your own home. You took your time to find the right assisted living facility for your style and needs. You moved in, got adjusted to your new home and made new friends. Your life is different than it was, but it is still good.
It’s now a couple of years later and you get a notice from the owner of the assisted living facility that they have decided to redevelop the property into a luxury rental building. You and the other residents are told that you must vacate. In a few weeks your meals will stop and the assistance that you signed up for will end. You have to find a new home. You paid an initiation fee to get into this facility and you will have to pay a new fee wherever you move. You will have to pay the cost or moving your belongings. You will have to adjust to a new location. In fact, you now need to go through the search for a new assisted living facility that will be the right fit for you. You are not as mobile as you were when you moved in. You are now sad and disappointed. You thought that this was going to be your final home.
This scenario or one close to it recently happened with an assisted living facility in White Plains. It is important that when you find an assisted living facility that you ask about the owner’s plans for the facility. When you are told that nothing is planned other than continuing to run it as an assisted living facility you should ask for additional terms to be written into your lease such as a refund of initiation fees if the facility closes and the payment of your moving costs and other related expenses that you will incur in that situation. New assisted living facilities are opening every month. You should not be afraid to demand terms that will protect your interests.
photo (Courtesy of Anderson Transport Edinburgh http://anderson-