I-Team: Some Massachusetts assisted living facilities charging families rent after loved ones die
BOSTON - WBZ-TV's I-Team has learned that most assisted living facilities in Massachusetts use landlord tenant agreements that require a 30-day notice to end the lease, even if the tenant died. Some families are left with a huge bill.
It happened to Dottie Trvalik and her family. She lived at an assisted living facility in the Merrimack Valley. She was nearly 95 years old when she died last summer.
"She came down with a cold or pneumonia and it just sort of progressed," her son Bruce told WBZ-TV. "She just had a nice peaceful sleep."
Bruce made funeral arrangements and worked quickly to clean out Dottie's room at the memory care unit where the rent was more than $15,000 a month.
"My understanding was that, provided that we were out by the end of the month, that I would be able to get my refund," Bruce said.
But the facility told Bruce that he was not entitled to a refund because he did not give them a 30-day notice to terminate the lease.
"I was blown away, I really couldn't believe I was hearing what I was hearing," he said. "It's a tax, it's a flat-out tax."
Bruce agreed that his mom signed a rental agreement that did have a clause in it that said even in the event of death, the family would still be obligated to give the facility a 30-day notice. The facility told the I-Team it reached a settlement with the Trvalik family.
It was the same story back in 2022 when Jim Lloyd contacted WBZ's Call For Action after his wife Camille died at an assisted living facility on the North Shore. Lloyd was not be able to get his money back for the rent, until the I-Team got involved.
"I had to give a 30-day notice even though someone passed away, that sounds ridiculous to me," Lloyd told WBZ. "Because of Call For Action they have agreed to reimburse me for 25 days that I would have paid for."
Most assisted living facilities in Massachusetts use landlord tenant agreements that require a 30-day notice to end the lease and it doesn't matter if the resident died.
"This is not a practice that should be allowed," said State Senator John Velis, the vice chair of the joint committee on Elder Affairs.
"A lot of times these rents, if you will, aren't just being charged for the space, but it's actually food, it's actually other things that obviously this individual who's no longer with us is not utilizing. I don't think it's fair. I think it's unjust. If the answer is just legislation, absolutely I'd be willing to file something."
"I just want to say thank you for bringing it to our attention. This is completely unjust and reprehensible so a big kudos to you for reaching out on this. We're going to get on it," Velis told WBZ
Recently, New Hampshire passed a law that only allows assisted living facilities to charge families for ten days after a resident dies. The I-Team will stay on this story and report back when the new legislation is filed here in Massachusetts.
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