Dementia Support Line
Evicted from a care home: What to do if a person with dementia is asked to leave
The things you need to consider when a care home asks a resident who has dementia to find somewhere else to live.
‘My mum has dementia and pays for her own care, but her care home has asked her to find somewhere new to live. What rights does she have?’
Apart from being upsetting and stressful, it can be tricky to know how to respond if a care home wants to evict someone. Much will depend on the home’s reasons for asking your mum to leave.
Reasons
There are situations where a care home can ask a resident to leave.
The home should do whatever it reasonably can to meet a resident’s care needs. However, if it can’t provide the right care, then the person might be asked to move somewhere that can.
The same is true if the person is violent and there’s a real risk of serious harm to staff, other residents or themselves if they remain.
Someone could also be evicted if they have repeatedly failed to pay their fees and now owe a significant amount of money.
Rights
Even if the care home has reason to ask your mum to leave, she still has rights that must be respected.
She should be given the reasons why she’s being evicted, and the opportunity to appeal the decision.
She should also have a notice period of 28 days, or longer if this is stated in the care home contract.
Even if the care home has reason to ask your mum to leave, she still has rights that must be respected.
Responding
Look through your mum’s contract with the care home – clauses about ‘termination of contract’ should say how the arrangement can end and what the notice period should be. The contract may also give her additional rights, such as stating that there should be a meeting with management or a mediation process.
If the care home hasn’t given its reasons for asking your mum to leave, then ask for these. If you disagree with the reasons, ask to discuss them and explain why you disagree. If this doesn’t resolve the situation and you still don’t agree, then the care home should be able to tell you how to appeal its decision.
If you’re not satisfied with its response, you could ask the relevant ombudsman to look into your complaint independently.
If the care home doesn’t have an appeals process, then you can raise a complaint to it about this. If you’re not satisfied with its response, you could ask the relevant ombudsman to look into your complaint independently. There are separate ombudsmen for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
You could also speak to local social services for further advice, and for help in finding a new care home.
Other sources of information and advice are the Relatives and Residents Association, Shelter England, Shelter Cymru and Housing Rights in Northern Ireland.
Susan Morley
saysMy father has advanced dementia and has been living in a residential home for a year. Over the last few months he has became increasingly restless and aggressive cumulating in violent episodes. It was decided they could not longer meet his needs and he needed a specialist dementia nursing home placement (they did everything possible to help him prior to this decision being made). We were involved in this decision making. We were in the process of looking at other places and him being assessed when his behaviour deteriorated and he was sectioned and admitted to hospital. He is completley self funding. I have discussed with the home my father being refunded for the weeks he is hospitalised. They argue that they cannot make him "homeless" if this money isn't kept to retain the room. We are planning and looking at other places of care that can meet his needs and were doing this whilst he was resident there so he would not be going back. On this basis I feel it is fair my father is refunded for the care he has already paid for and is not receiving whilst in hospital.