If a LTC facility has a change in ownership or management, can the new owner/manager force a resident to sign a new resident agreement?

of course not. When you sign an agreement for a specified lenght of time, that agreement goes with the sale of the property

The new buyer must assume the obligations agreed to by the party they bought from.

I may assume the contract had a date by which it ended. After that date, the new owner can do what they want, but until then, they must honor the contract signed.

MB20171: Retain an elder law attorney as it pertains to your queries.

Speak with an Elder Law Attorney for best guidance.

I would expect a new agreement. If you rented an apartment and someone bought the house you would expect a new agreement with the new owner. Read it..sign it or move mom.

Find the old ownership contract that you/ your mom signed and look to see if there is anything regarding their (side) termination of contract. There should be like at least 2 sentences in the contract somewhere that references what happens for this. Whatever is in that contract is what needs to be abided by. Tends to be 6 month grace period.

If all this happened last year, there has been months for postings placed &/or residents notified as to upcoming changes, so you / mom are not in the position to fight the increase or try to hold new mgmt to old contract. The new management can place a Notice in the elevator or Notice printed on a table tent or weekly menu couple of times & be viewed as given residents information on rate increases and management changes, this in addition to anything mailed to you/ POA or delivered to the resident. To want them to hold to old contract simply is not going to happen. If you like the facility and can afford the increase, then basically you / mom will have to sign the new contract with its new increased terms. Read it carefully as it likely allows for an increase every year upon renewal with 60 day prior notification.
Otherwise start looking for a new MC. Imho you do want to have moms balance at zero as new facilities you are looking at can call her current MC to see how her creditworthiness is.

also if you are unclear on what this place requires for “Notification of Move” by a tenant, please pls try to find this out asap. It may be 30 days written notice by mom / you and a cleaning fee. Otherwise they can bill mom for the full month.

Fwiw just what type of MC this place operates under will make a difference as to how they can get a recalcitrant resident to move out. If it is a MC and mom is there as a skilled nursing care resident in the MC, she is there under MediCARE regulations which require any move or discharge to be within the same level of current care or better….. so that means she’d have to be released to another MC or a NH or to a hospital & not discharged to the street.
HOWEVER
if this MC is just a locked door, locked ward / yard extension of Assisted Living place, she can get flat out get evicted. Assisted living means they can do their ADLs with some help so eviction to a shelter or some type of congregate housing is totally acceptable as they are NOT needing skilled care. Now the optics of this looks bad… so what places do - not just MC, but NH or AL as well - is find that something appears to have happened to the resident that is concerning and EMS is called and they are taken to an ER/ED; then once it’s determined at the ER or hospital that they can return, the facility will say there is no open bed or they cannot meet the level of care needed, it’s a harsh reality that happens; so they are stuck in limbo at the hospital and hospital discharge planner will be on the phone to you to come and get your parent as the primary fallback to solve this problem. The classic excuse is the resident looks to have had a TIA aka transient ischemic attack as they are super subjective looking as to how they “present” but worthy of an EMS run to the ER billable to Medicare.

LSS that MC is not going to let your mom stay there indefinitely, either sign the contract w/increased rates or find a new MC asap, or figure out an in-home care plan so that you control the situation. Otherwise that MC will act.

No, they can not force anyone to sign anything.

However, not doing so would mean your mom has no contract in place. That means they can do whatever, because she is just a month to month tenant, she will be subjected to their whims on service and price. She could get a monthly increase or be evicted. Fight this battle carefully.

The old contract would not be applicable because it is not with the current owner. They DO NOT have to honor previous terms and conditions.

I would recommend finding a different facility if your mom isn't getting the care she needs. If she is, sign the contract or they will find a way to get her outta there.

Any private pay facility can require a new contract be signed when new management takes over. That very thing happened to my folks in AL. We had the right to say no to the new contract and move them out of there, too, if we were opposed to the terms. The AL we were using was not a Medicare or Medicaid facility, and was fully private pay and not regulated by the state in terms of fees.

This is interesting and I think needs to be asked of an Elder Lawyer.

My Mom too had a fixed rate for her room and board but not her care. She received a discounted sale amount of 50% of the regular cost that she had till she left or passed. This does not mean she didn't get rent raises but they were based on that 50% and my State has rent laws. I would think that any contract Mom signed with the previous owner would still be in effect. Like she is grandfathered in. It probably depends on the laws of your State.

If you do not like the new contract then it is time to shop around for a new place. Usually contracts are done on a yearly basis. If she still has time, do not wait till the last minute.

You'd have to check with the laws in that state, but I'd guess that yes, they can.