Assisted Living Community Fee: What Is Refundable

California's legislature had to write a list. In the section of the Health and Safety Code that governs money collected before someone moves into a residential care facility, a "preadmission fee" is defined as "an application fee, processing fee, admission fee, entrance fee, community fee, or other fee, however designated, that is requested or accepted by a licensee of a residential care facility for the elderly prior to admission" (HSC 1569.651(e), read 27 September 2026).

However designated. Four words carrying the weight of the whole sentence. That list is not an attempt to catalog industry vocabulary. It is an attempt to make a refund rule survive the next rename.

Which is the first useful thing to know about the money that left your account before your mother moved in. The word on the invoice — community fee, move-in fee, one-time fee, apartment preparation fee, administrative fee — does not decide whether any of it comes back. What decides is which of three legally distinct payments it actually was, and which state licensed the building.

This guide is about that one-time money. What the monthly rate itself covers is a separate question, and so is the annual increase letter that arrives every autumn.

Three payments that arrive as one check

Almost every admission packet collects some combination of the following, and almost every family remembers them as a single number.

A one-time admission fee. Community fee, move-in fee, entrance fee, administrative fee. Usually described as covering apartment turnover, the initial assessment, and setting up care. Usually the largest of the three. Almost always described out loud as non-refundable.

A security deposit. Money held against damage or unpaid charges, meant to be returned. In several states this one is not governed by eldercare licensing rules at all. It is governed by residential landlord-tenant law, which tends to be stricter about deadlines and about who carries the burden of proof.

Advance rent or prepaid charges. First month, sometimes last month, sometimes a prepaid block. This is payment for occupancy that has not happened yet, which is why nearly every rule in the country prorates it.

The refund conversation goes sideways when a family asks about the wrong one. "Can we get the deposit back?" gets a truthful and useless answer when no deposit was ever collected and the $4,000 was a community fee. Work from the ledger, not from the memory of the tour. Massachusetts now requires an assisted living residence to produce an accounting of charges, or a record of payments made, within seven business days of a request from a resident or someone authorized to ask on their behalf — 940 CMR 40.06(1)(i).

For a certified nursing home, there is one federal answer

Nursing homes that participate in Medicare or Medicaid share a single rule, and it is unusually direct. I pulled part 483 from the eCFR versioner API as in force 1 September 2026 rather than reading a summary of it, because this is the paragraph facilities most often paraphrase.

42 CFR 483.10(g)(18)(iii): if a resident dies, is hospitalized, or is transferred and does not return to the facility, the facility must refund to the resident, resident representative, or estate "any deposit or charges already paid, less the facility's per diem rate, for the days the resident actually resided or reserved or retained a bed in the facility, regardless of any minimum stay or discharge notice requirements."

Paragraph (iv): any and all refunds due must be paid within 30 days from the date of discharge.

Paragraph (v): the terms of an admission contract "must not conflict with the requirements of these regulations."

Three things are worth noticing about what that does and does not reach. It covers a deposit, not a fee described as buying something already delivered — a facility arguing that a one-time charge paid for an assessment already performed is arguing outside this paragraph. It is triggered by death, hospitalization, or a transfer without return, which means it does not obviously cover a family that simply chooses a different nursing home. And paragraph (v) exists precisely because contracts had been written to undercut the rest.

Two neighboring rules matter when money is being asked for at the door. Under 42 CFR 483.15(a)(4), a nursing facility must not charge, solicit, accept, or receive "any gift, money, donation, or other consideration as a precondition of admission, expedited admission or continued stay" from a person eligible for Medicaid. Under 483.15(a)(3), it must not request or require a third party guarantee of payment as a condition of admission or continued stay — the rule behind the responsible party signature line. And where a facility has been holding a resident's own money in a personal funds account, 483.10(f)(10)(v) requires it to convey those funds and a final accounting within 30 days of discharge, eviction, or death.

Assisted living is state-licensed, so there is no federal answer at all

There is no part 483 for assisted living. Every rule below comes from one state and applies in that state only. I read the rules of eight states on 27 September 2026, and they fall into three tiers worth telling apart before you quote anything to a business office.

The disclosure tier is the largest group, and its rules read almost identically. Maryland requires the resident agreement to contain "terms governing the refund of any prepaid fees or charges, in the event of a resident's discharge from the assisted living program or termination of the resident agreement" — COMAR 10.07.14.27A(2)(h). New York's Public Health Law 4658(2)(p) requires "terms governing the refund of any previously paid fees or charges," and the same statute names the community fee twice: subsection (g) requires the agreement to describe services available for "an additional, supplemental, or community fee," and (h) requires a rate or fee schedule listing those fees with a detailed explanation of what they cover. Both appear in the state Health Department's Dear Administrator Letter ACF 25-22 of 29 April 2025. Texas requires written policies "regarding residents accepted, services provided, charges, refunds, responsibilities of facility and residents, privileges of residents," at 26 TAC 553.259(c)(4) — wording taken from a licensing-standards compilation of the chapter, because the state's own rules server has moved and would not return the section (see Sources).

In a disclosure state the document decides. That is not nothing — a term the agreement never disclosed is a weaker term than one it did — but nobody is going to hand you a percentage.

California wrote its refund rule as arithmetic

California is the outlier, and the numbers sit in the statute rather than in the contract. Under HSC 1569.651, for a residential care facility for the elderly:

• A facility charging a preadmission fee must give the applicant a written general statement describing all costs associated with the fee and stating that the fee is refundable, with the refund conditions (subdivision (b)). It may charge only a single preadmission fee per resident admission.
• If the applicant decides not to move in before the facility completes a preadmission appraisal, or if the facility failed to give that full written disclosure, the refund is 100% (subdivision (g)).
• Otherwise the portion above $500 is refundable on a schedule (subdivision (h)): at least 80% if no move-in happens after an appraisal was done, at least 80% if the resident leaves for any reason during the first month of residency, at least 60% during the second month, at least 40% during the third. After four or more months the facility may refund but is not required to.
• A facility must not require, request, or accept any funds that constitute "a deposit against any possible damages by the resident" (subdivision (c)).
• No preadmission fee or deposit may be required from an applicant who receives State Supplementary Program benefits (subdivision (a)).
• If the resident is displaced because the facility loses its license or changes use — the situation described at HSC 1569.682(a) — subdivision (i) sets a second schedule tied to how long ago the fee was paid: 100% if within six months of the eviction notice, 75% at six to twelve months, 50% at twelve to eighteen, 25% at eighteen to under twenty-five, nothing at twenty-five months or more. That refund is due within 15 days of the notice.

The statute exempts facilities holding a certificate of authority to offer continuing care contracts, so a CCRC entrance fee is a different body of law entirely.

Massachusetts changed the question from "how much" to "whether"

On 17 July 2026 the Massachusetts Attorney General promulgated 940 CMR 40.00, consumer protection regulations for assisted living residences issued under M.G.L. c. 93A, section 2(c). Section 40.07(5)(a) makes it an unfair or deceptive act for an assisted living residence to require a resident or prospective resident, at or prior to the commencement of the tenancy, to pay "any amount more than is authorized by M.G.L. c. 186, section 15B" — plus, if applicable, an assessment fee covering the cost of the initial assessment and intake required by 651 CMR 12.04 — unless the resident is eligible for MassHealth.

Section 15B(1)(b) is the state's security deposit statute, and its list is short. At or before the start of a tenancy a landlord may require no more than the first full month's rent, the last full month's rent at the same rate, a security deposit equal to one month's rent, and the cost of buying and installing a key and lock. That list contains no community fee.

So in Massachusetts the live question is not what percentage comes back. It is whether the charge belonged on the move-in invoice at all, and whether what was labeled a community fee was in substance the assessment fee the regulation allows. Section 40.07(5)(b) adds that funds collected as last month's rent or a security deposit must be held the way section 15B requires: a separate interest-bearing account at a Massachusetts bank, beyond the reach of the facility's creditors, with a receipt naming the bank and the account number within 30 days. Failure to give that receipt entitles the tenant to immediate return of the deposit.

The deposit may be governed by landlord-tenant law, not eldercare law

Minnesota routes the deposit straight out of its assisted living chapter and into its tenant statute. Minn. Stat. 144G.42, subd. 5 requires that within 30 days of a termination — facility-initiated, resident-initiated, or the resident's death — the facility provide a final statement of account, provide any refunds due, return money or property held in trust, and "as required under section 504B.178, refund the resident's security deposit unless it is applied to the first month's charges."

That cross-reference carries real teeth. Minn. Stat. 504B.178 gives the landlord three weeks after termination — running once it has the tenant's mailing address or delivery instructions, which is a reason to send a forwarding address in writing — to return the deposit with interest or furnish a written statement showing the specific reason for withholding it. Withholding is limited to amounts reasonably necessary to cover unpaid rent or to restore the premises to their condition at the start of the tenancy, ordinary wear and tear excepted. Subdivision 3(c) puts the burden of proving the reason for withholding on the landlord. Subdivision 4 makes a landlord who misses the three weeks liable for the withheld portion as a penalty, on top of returning the portion wrongfully withheld.

Florida keeps its deposit rule inside the assisted living statute but writes it like a landlord-tenant provision. Under Fla. Stat. 429.24(2), money deposited as security for performance of the contract — or as advance rent for anything other than the next immediate rental period — must sit in a banking institution in the state, separate from the facility's funds, may not be shown as an asset of the facility on its financial statements, and may be spent only for the resident's account. Within 30 days of receiving it the licensee must tell the resident in writing how the money is being held and give the name and address of the depository. Subsection (7) then says outright that facilities of 60 or more apartments may set refund policies and termination notices under the state's residential landlord-tenant law instead, so long as the lease terminates automatically without financial penalty on death or on relocation forced by medical or psychiatric reasons.

Where the refund quietly disappears: the date the unit is cleared

This is the part that costs families the most, and the part nobody mentions on a tour. Three states answer the same question — when do the charges stop — and none of them answers it with the date most people assume.

It is not the date of death, and it is not the date of the move. In two of the three it is the date the belongings are out; in the third, that date decides when a ten-day clock begins.

Florida defines it in the statute. Under 429.24(3)(a) the prorated refund runs from "the termination date," and "the termination date shall be the date the unit is vacated by the resident and cleared of all personal belongings." If the remaining belongings do not actually prevent the unit being rented, the facility may clear it itself and charge the actual cost of moving and storage, capped at 20 percent of the regular rate for the unit, after 14 days' advance written notice. Unclaimed possessions may be disposed of 45 days after that notification.

California approaches the same mechanism from the resident's side. HSC 1569.652 says a facility may not require advance notice to terminate the agreement on a resident's death, that no fees accrue once all of the deceased resident's personal property is removed from the unit, and that a refund of fees paid in advance covering the period after removal is due within 15 days of the removal. It also forbids the facility from impeding removal during reasonable hours by someone the resident authorized, and requires the facility to send written notice of its termination-and-refund policy within three days of learning of the death.

Massachusetts puts a ceiling on it. Under 940 CMR 40.06(1)(f), enforcing a 30-day notice-of-vacancy policy after a resident's death is an unfair or deceptive act; the residence is entitled to rent and fees for not more than 10 days from the date of death; and if personal property that impedes reuse of the unit is still there, the 10 days does not begin until the family, estate, or responsible party has removed it. If someone new moves in sooner, the 10 days is prorated from that date.

Read the three together and one practical point follows. The week after a death or a hospital transfer, when clearing out a room is the last thing anyone wants to do, is the week the charges are still accruing.

The clearing date and the refund deadline are two separate clocks, and they are not triggered by the same event. In Florida the cleared date sets the termination date, which fixes how much of the prepayment counts as unused — but the 45 days runs "after the transfer, discharge, or death of the resident," not from the day the room is emptied. Minnesota's 30 days runs from the effective date of the termination or the resident's death. Only California ties the deadline itself to the family's own act: the 15 days in 1569.652(c) begins when the personal property is out. So a dated record of the day the unit was emptied is what argues about the amount, while the deadline for the money to arrive is usually counted from the discharge or death date.

What to ask for, and who to ask

Most of these arguments are settled by four documents, and each one is something you are entitled to rather than a favor.

1. The signed agreement and every addendum, specifically the fee schedule and the refund clause. In a disclosure-tier state that is the whole rulebook. If you have not read the agreement start to finish yet, it is worth one sitting with a pen.
2. The written fee disclosure given before admission. California conditions a 100% refund on whether the facility gave it. Washington's RCW 70.129.150 goes further: a long-term care facility must disclose in writing, before admission and in a language the resident understands, the amount of any admissions fee, deposit, prepaid charge or minimum stay fee and what portion of it will be refunded, with receipt acknowledged in writing — and "if the facility does not provide these disclosures, the deposits, admissions fees, prepaid charges, or minimum stay fees may not be kept by the facility."
3. The ledger. Every payment and every charge in date order, so that the three payments come apart from one another.
4. A dated record of when the unit was emptied. A photograph of the bare room and an email confirming the date costs nothing and anchors every deadline above.

Washington's statute is also the clearest example of proration written for assisted living rather than for nursing homes. Where a resident dies, is hospitalized, or is transferred to another facility for more appropriate care and does not return, the facility refunds deposits and charges already paid less its per diem for days actually occupied or reserved, notwithstanding any minimum stay policy or discharge notice requirement — except that it may keep up to five additional days' per diem for the actual cost of a private-pay resident's move if no advance notice was given. All refunds are due within 30 days of discharge.

For questions, the long-term care ombudsman is free and covers assisted living as well as nursing homes; the Eldercare Locator at 1-800-677-1116 or eldercare.acl.gov gives you the local office. The licensing agency enforces the state's own contract rules. A state attorney general's consumer protection division is the right office for fee practices — Massachusetts issued its assisted living rules as consumer protection regulations rather than licensing rules for exactly that reason. What none of them will do is tell you what your contract means. That is an elder law attorney's work.

The same $4,000 fee, four states

Take a hypothetical: a $4,000 community fee, and a parent who moves out five weeks after moving in. Nothing about the fee changes. The answer changes four times.

California. The amount above $500 is $3,500, and leaving during the second month of residency triggers at least a 60% refund of that — $2,100 — under 1569.651(h)(3). If the facility never gave the written preadmission disclosure, subdivision (g) makes it 100%.

Massachusetts. The question moves upstream. Unless the $4,000 was an assessment fee covering the initial assessment and intake required by 651 CMR 12.04, collecting it at or before move-in is itself an unfair or deceptive act under 940 CMR 40.07(5)(a) as of 17 July 2026.

Florida. The statute's proration reaches "any unused portion of payment beyond the termination date," which on its face describes payment for occupancy rather than a one-time admission fee. What 429.24(3)(a) does guarantee is that the contract contains a refund policy, that any claim against the refund is put in writing with at least 14 calendar days to respond, and that the money arrives within 45 days — backed by a fine of three times the amount due, half of it payable to the resident or the estate.

Maryland, New York or Texas. The agreement's own refund clause governs, and the state rule is that the clause had to be there. If it is not there, that absence is itself the finding to take to the licensing agency.

Same fee, same five weeks, four different conversations. Which is why the useful first question is never "is the community fee refundable." It is "which state licensed this building, and what did the document I signed have to say."

Sources

All read 27 September 2026 unless noted.

• 42 CFR 483.10(f)(10), 483.10(g)(18) and 483.15(a), retrieved through the eCFR versioner API as in force 1 September 2026 — 483.10 on eCFR, 483.15 on eCFR
• California Health & Safety Code 1569.651 (amended Stats. 2007, ch. 686), 1569.652 (added Stats. 2013, ch. 290, AB 261), 1569.682
• Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General, 940 CMR 40.00: Assisted Living Residences, dated 17 July 2026 — sections 40.06(1)(f), 40.06(1)(i) and 40.07(5), quoted from the promulgated text as published in Massachusetts Register #1578 of 17 July 2026, not from the June 2026 pre-publication draft that also circulates on the same site
• Massachusetts M.G.L. c. 186, section 15B, subsections (1)(b), (3) and (4), including the introductory clause of (1)(b) as amended by 2025 ch. 9, sections 54 and 55, effective 1 August 2025
• Washington RCW 70.129.150 (2021 c 159 s 28). The legislature's app.leg.wa.gov viewer returned a page my tools could not read, so the text quoted here came from the legislature's own lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov copy of the section.
• Minnesota Statutes 144G.42, subd. 5 and 504B.178, subdivisions 2, 3 and 4
• Florida Statutes 429.24 (2025), subsections (2), (3)(a) and (7)
• New York Public Health Law 4658(2) and Social Services Law 461-c, as set out in NYS Department of Health, DAL ACF 25-22, Admission and Residency Agreement Expectations, 29 April 2025
• Maryland COMAR 10.07.14.27
• Texas 26 TAC 553.259(c)(4). The Texas Secretary of State rules server has moved, and neither the old nor the new address returned this section to my tools, so the wording came from a licensing-standards compilation of chapter 553 rather than from the state's own site. Check it against the current rule before relying on it.
• California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, Refunds in Residential Care Facilities, for the Title 22 regulation cross-references (22 CCR 87507) that sit alongside the statutes above
• Administration for Community Living, Eldercare Locator

This page is general information, not legal, medical, or financial advice. See the terms.