By the time most families sit down with a senior living contract, they have already toured, met the team, and decided this is the community. The contract feels like a formality. It is not.
A senior living contract is where the tour ends and the real math begins. It is the document that spells out what the resident actually pays each month, what happens when their care needs change, and what protections the resident has if something goes wrong. Families who read it carefully catch things that would have surprised them six months later. Families who skim it end up in conversations they wish they had started earlier.
This guide is written for both audiences: the prospective resident researching a move for themselves, and the adult child or spouse reading through a contract on someone else’s behalf. Some of what follows will be true of the contracts at The Landing Senior Living. Some of it will be true of other communities in the area. All of it is worth knowing before pen touches paper.
Start With the Cost Buckets
Every senior living contract in Georgia breaks pricing into three buckets, though the labels vary from community to community.
The first bucket is base rent. This is what the resident pays for the apartment or cottage itself. Think of it as the housing portion. Base rent covers the physical space, utilities in most cases, basic amenities, and access to the community’s common areas and programming. In Independent Living, base rent tends to be most of what shows up on the monthly bill because no hands-on care is included in the model. Families researching what that actually costs in Georgia can dig deeper in the Independent Living cost guide for Georgia.
The second bucket is the care level fee. This is separate from rent and covers the personal support the resident receives day to day. Medication management, help with bathing and dressing, escorts to meals, incontinence care. In Assisted Living and Memory Care, the care fee is often the second-largest line item on the bill. In Independent Living, there usually is no care fee because residents are not receiving hands-on care.
The third bucket is the community fee, a one-time charge paid at move-in. It is not a security deposit, and in most cases it is not refundable. Communities use it to cover apartment turnover between residents, administrative onboarding, and the physical preparation of the unit. Community fees in Georgia typically range from a few hundred dollars to several thousand, and they vary widely by community and care level.
Some contracts add a fourth bucket for additional services: cable, phone, guest meals, salon appointments, transportation beyond the scheduled runs. These are usually itemized separately and billed monthly.
If a community quotes an “all-in” price, ask them to point to which bucket that number covers and which it does not. The all-in framing is convenient for marketing but rarely matches the actual invoice.
What the Care Assessment Is Really For
If the resident is moving into Assisted Living or Memory Care, the care level fee is not a fixed number. It is tied to a level of care assessment that the community performs before move-in and revisits over time.
It is worth reframing what the assessment is actually doing. From the outside, it looks like a pricing exercise: a checklist that determines what the family will pay. But that is not the purpose. The purpose is to understand what the resident needs so the community can build daily life around them.
The best assessments ask about more than mobility and medications. They ask about the resident’s routines, the times of day they feel most themselves, the foods they love and the ones they will not touch, the people they want to keep in touch with, the music that means something. That information becomes the care plan (, the written document that shapes how a resident’s day actually runs after move-in. A good assessment is the community learning who this person is so that the apartment, the meals, the neighbors, and the daily support all fit around them. That is how a community becomes the resident’s home, not a substitute for one.
Every senior living contract should have a section on reassessments, the follow-up evaluations that happen either on a set schedule (usually annually, sometimes every six months) or in response to a change: a fall, a hospital stay, a shift in health status, a family request. Reassessments can raise or lower a resident’s care level, which changes the monthly care fee. What the contract should tell the family is how often reassessments happen, what triggers an interim one, how much notice arrives before a rate change takes effect, and whether the family has the right to dispute or request a second opinion.
The reassessment process is where families most often feel blindsided. A resident has a hospital stay, comes home to the community, and the next month’s bill is several hundred dollars higher because their care level moved up. That change may be completely fair. But if the contract did not explain how it would happen, it will feel like a gotcha. At The Landing, families are walked through the assessment process before move-in and again before any care level change. The harder conversation early is better than the frustrated one later.
Get the Included Versus À La Carte List in Writing
Every community lists what is “included” in the base rent and care fee. Asking for that list in writing before signing is one of the most useful things a family can do.
What is usually included at most communities: three meals a day (though some include only two), weekly housekeeping and linen service, utilities other than long-distance phone, scheduled transportation on set days, access to community programming and activities, an emergency response system in the apartment, and basic wellness monitoring.
What is often billed à la carte, meaning separately from the base pricing: salon and barbershop services, guest meals for visiting family, personal laundry (as opposed to linen service, which is different), transportation to medical appointments outside the scheduled runs, cable and internet upgrades beyond the community’s standard package, and any care service beyond the resident’s assessed care level.
The gray area is things like escorts to meals, medication reminders (versus full medication management), and incontinence support. Different communities draw the line in different places, so ask for specifics. Words that mean different things at different communities include “wellness check,” “concierge service,” and “personalized care.” If any of those show up in the contract, ask for the operational definition. A wellness check might mean a daily hallway walk-through at one community and a nurse visit at another.
Move-In Fees, Deposits, and What Comes Back
The community fee is usually the largest one-time charge at move-in, but it is not always the only one. Depending on the community, the contract may include a first month’s rent paid up front, a last month’s rent held as a deposit against the final billing cycle, a pet fee (one-time and sometimes monthly, both) if the resident is bringing an animal, an application or processing fee to cover background checks and paperwork, and a reserved-unit fee if the family is holding an apartment for a future move-in date. Contracts sometimes also carry a move-in fee that runs alongside the community fee, and it is worth clarifying which is which.
For couples moving in together, there is one more line to understand: the second person fee, an additional monthly charge added when two people share the same apartment or cottage. It exists because a couple uses more meals, activities, utilities, and staff time than a single resident does. Some communities charge a flat amount. Others calculate it as a percentage of base rent.
The refund language on all of these matters. Some fees are fully non-refundable from the day of signing. Some become non-refundable after a certain window. Some are prorated. Deposits held against final billing are usually returned within 30 to 60 days of move-out, minus any outstanding charges.
Ask specifically what happens to the money if the resident decides not to move in after signing but before the move-in date, or if the resident moves in and passes away within the first 30 days, or if the resident needs to move to a higher level of care that this community cannot provide. Every community handles these differently. Get the answers in writing.
Rate Increase Language: Read This Section Twice
Senior living pricing does not stay flat. According to the 2023 Genworth Cost of Care Survey, the median cost of Assisted Living in the United States rose roughly 5% year over year between 2004 and 2023, and it has climbed faster in recent years. Every community you tour will raise rates at some point during a resident’s tenancy. The question is how, when, and with what notice.
The rate increase clause should tell the family how often rates can increase (most commonly, once per calendar year), what kind of notice arrives before a change takes effect (60 days is common, 30 days is short, 90 days is generous), whether there is a cap on the size of any single increase, and whether market-rate language applies (some contracts allow rate increases at any time to match market conditions).
The phrase to watch for is “at the community’s sole discretion.” That language gives the community the legal right to raise rates whenever they choose, with only the notice period as protection. It is common in senior living contracts and not necessarily a red flag, but the family should know it is there. If a contract has an annual cap on rate increases, that is a family-friendly clause. It does not mean rates cannot rise. It means the rise is predictable.
Before signing, ask what the community’s average rate increase has been over the past three years. A community that will not answer that question is telling the family something.
The 30-Day Notice Rule and How to Leave
Senior living contracts are month-to-month in Georgia. The resident is not signing a year-long lease, which is one of the family-friendly aspects of the model.
The move-out clause typically requires 30 days written notice to leave. That notice starts the clock, and the resident continues to pay through the notice period even if they physically move out earlier. Most contracts prorate the final month based on the actual move-out date, minus the 30-day requirement.
What the contract should spell out: the exact form the notice needs to take (usually written and signed, sometimes on a specific form), who it goes to (the Executive Director, the business office, or both), how final billing is calculated, when and how any security deposit or unused rent is returned, and any move-out inspection requirements.
If the resident passes away, most contracts waive the 30-day notice requirement, though families are typically responsible for clearing the apartment within a set window, often 14 to 30 days from the date of passing. Some communities charge a per-day rate for extended clearing time. Ask.
Discharge Criteria: When the Community Can Ask a Resident to Leave
This is the section families rarely read and often wish they had.
Every senior living contract in Georgia includes discharge criteria, the conditions under which the community can end the resident’s tenancy. The most common reasons are care needs that exceed what the community is licensed to provide, behavior that poses a danger to the resident or to others, non-payment of fees, and repeated violation of community rules after written warnings.
Georgia’s Rules and Regulations for Assisted Living Communities, administered by the Department of Community Health, Healthcare Facility Regulation Division, require communities to provide 30 days’ written notice for most non-emergency discharges, along with a stated reason and information about the appeals process. Emergency discharges, for immediate safety, can happen faster.
The key thing to understand is that not every senior living community can care for every level of need. A community licensed only for Assisted Living cannot legally provide the higher-acuity services someone in late-stage Memory Care may need. That is why communities with all care levels on one campus, like the LSL communities in Bogart, Winder, and the future Landing of Monroe, are structurally different from single-level communities. When the resident’s needs progress, the resident moves across the hall rather than out of the building.
Ask what the community’s discharge history looks like. How often do residents have to leave for reasons other than passing away or family choice? What is the community’s protocol when they see care needs approaching the discharge line? A good community brings the family into that conversation early. A great community has options within their own campus so the conversation is about moving to Memory Care, not about finding a new address.
Resident Rights in Georgia
Georgia law gives residents of Assisted Living Communities and Personal Care Homes specific resident rights that are separate from the contract and cannot be signed away.
These include the right to receive care in a manner that respects dignity and privacy, the right to participate in decisions about care, the right to voice grievances without fear of retaliation, the right to manage personal finances or to designate someone else to, the right to have visitors of the resident’s choosing, and the right to receive advance notice before discharge or transfer.
If a family or the resident believes a community is violating these rights or providing substandard care, Georgia has a Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program that investigates complaints at no cost to the family. The Georgia Ombudsman Program has representatives assigned to communities across the state, and their services are confidential.
The family does not need to know these rights to sign a contract. But knowing they exist changes the tone of every conversation with community leadership. A community that welcomes family involvement in care decisions is operating the way the model is meant to work. That posture is the best indicator that the community operates the way its contract describes.
Questions to Ask Before Signing
If we could put one page in front of every family before they sign a senior living contract, it would be a list of questions.
The first is procedural: can the family take a copy of the contract home to review with an attorney or another family member? A community that says yes without hesitation is operating the way it should.
The second is the total-cost question: what is the current monthly cost for the resident’s assessed care level, and what would the projected cost be if the care level increased by one tier? Getting both numbers in writing means the family walks in with realistic expectations for what a year from now could look like.
The third is the history question: what has the community’s average rate increase been over the past three years? Communities that track this and share it openly are a different kind of operator than communities that dodge.
The fourth is the community fee question: what is the community fee, and under what conditions is any portion refundable? Ask this before signing anything.
The fifth is the reassessment question: how does the reassessment process work, and how much notice does the family receive before a rate change?
The sixth is the inclusion question: what is included in the base rent and care fee, and what is billed à la carte?
The seventh is the discharge question: what is the community’s discharge policy if the resident’s care needs exceed what this community can provide, and does the community offer higher levels of care on the same campus?
The eighth is the point-of-contact question: who is the family’s point of contact for billing questions after move-in, and what is the process for filing a concern or grievance?
If a community answers these clearly and puts the answers in writing, the family has found a community that operates transparently. If they hedge or refuse to specify, that is information too.
When in Doubt, Ask for Definitions
A senior living contract uses terms that may be unfamiliar even to families who have researched the industry for months.
Our Senior Living Glossary was built to give families a plain-English reference for the terms that show up most often in tours, brochures, and contracts. If a word in the contract feels vague, look it up. If it does not appear there, ask the community’s Executive Director to define it in their own words. The answer, and the ease with which it arrives, tells the family a great deal about how the community operates.
The Real Purpose of the Contract
A senior living contract is not a document meant to trap families. It is meant to spell out what the community promises to deliver and what the resident agrees to pay for. The best contracts are the ones a family can read, understand without a legal dictionary, and reference two years later when a question comes up.
Every family who tours The Landing of Bogart, The Landing of Winder, or The Landing of Monroe hears the same thing at the end of the tour: take the contract home. Read it. Bring the questions back. The team would rather answer them now than have anyone sign quickly and feel unsure later.
For families researching senior living for a parent (or for prospective residents researching for themselves) in Northeast Georgia or the Athens area, our team is here for the conversation before pen touches paper. Schedule a conversation or call the closest community directly.
Sources and Further Reading
– Georgia Department of Community Health, Healthcare Facility Regulation Division
– Georgia Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program
– Genworth Cost of Care Survey
– Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — Planning for Diminished Capacity and Illness
– National Center for Assisted Living
Related Resources
Georgia Medicaid and Assisted Living
Traditional Medicaid does not cover Assisted Living, but Georgia has two waiver programs that can. Here is who qualifies, how to apply, and what to expect.
Assisted Living Cost in Athens vs Atlanta: A Family Comparison
Assisted Living in the Athens area costs meaningfully less than in Atlanta, but the gap tells a fuller story than price alone.
Memory Care vs Private Caregiver at Home: The Real Cost Comparison
Families often assume keeping a parent home with a private caregiver is cheaper than Memory Care. Here is what the real math shows as dementia progresses.
Does Medicare Cover Assisted Living?
Medicare does not cover Assisted Living, but Georgia families have several real ways to cover the cost. The full picture, including Medicaid waivers, VA benefits, and how most families combine sources.
