Can an assisted living care facility charge two different people for the same apartment on the same day(s) if a 30-day notice was required?

bobbyquad: Imho, the AL may be correct in having another resident move in since a 30 day notice was provided and keys were turned in.

It all depends what the fine, super fine print says. Last year
Mother was discharged from hospital to hospice that was in an adult family home - a very nice afh that I found for her to the tune of $12,000/mo. 'Rent' was due on the 30th or 31st before the new month.

Mother began at the afh on May 16th (had to give them a check for the days of 5/16-5/31 plus an administrative fee of $3,000)I gave them the check on May 31st ($12,000) for the month of June. The evening of June 1st, mother was admitted to hospice care in the hospital where they were trying to manage her pain that the pain protocol wasn't addressing and she had become catatonic. I was fully expecting her to return to the afh within a few days. Mother passed away a few days later, never returning to the afh.

The afh was legally able to keep the entire month of June rent because of a fine, super fine print clause that was buried in the 65 pages of admitting paperwork that, (my bad), I didn't go through line by line, page by page, because I pressed for time to get her into the place (hospital gave me 3 days to find hospice care for her outside the hospital and this was during Covid lockdowns). AND, the facility was able to turn around the rent the room to another patient for the month of June, thereby collecting double rent on one bed.

So, is it legal - all depends what the contract says. Is it wrong - absolutely. I consider it taking advantage of people in vulnerable times and situations.

Hi, your state should have a Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program. They help families and residents navigate these types of situations, and will know what's in the regulations for your state.

National Consumer Voice (theconsumervoice.org)

I would think the care portion of the rent definitely should be refunded…

it’s sad they didn’t refund you the days she wasn’t living there. Go over their head..and see if you can get any where.

my moms AL required a 30 day notice.

when my mom died in memory care , I got all her days not there refunded..

Whether they "can" do this or not is probably contract law and not worth the attorney time. Whether it is moral to do this is another thing.
Most ALF have an online presence in which they depend upon the input of people in evaluating them. They are truly concerned about what is written about them.
In the case of my brother he died in the first week of the month. His place was cleaned out a week later. They refunded me the rest of his month's rental even though they didn't have someone coming in at once. So I would say that is best practice, which his facility was in all they did.
I would speak to the admin about them. I would tell them that you would like that amount refunded. I would tell them that if they double charged that is morally fairly reprehensible and you would be leaving what feedback you can on social media regarding that practice.
Good luck.

I think you need to call the housing authority and run it by them. I am under the understanding that if a renter has paid for the apt, it cannot be rented till the time is up. As you say, its double dipping..

When I was young we bought a house before our lease was up. The penalty was we had to pay two months rent to get out of the lease. We were told they had someone in the apt right after we left. I was going to check out the law then but DH said not to worry about it.

Look at the lease that was signed when your mother took posession of the unit. As long as your mother gave 30 days notice and her keys were turned in, I believe it was within the ALs rights to move another resident into her empty unit.

When my folks moved out of their IL apartment, I had to give 60 days notice. I moved them out WELL BEFORE 60 days, however, and turned in the keys. Do you think the apartment manager felt the need to wait 60 days before renting the apartment to someone else? Neither do I.

If mom's lease was written that she had to give 30 days notice of vacating, then the AL could indeed move someone else into her place as long as it was empty.

My mother died while living in Memory Care Assisted Living. I had to pay for 15 days past the day of her death, to the tune of $1550, even though I had her things cleaned out within a few days after she passed. The MC was free to rent her room out the moment they finished cleaning the unit.