Care Home Information Packages
Unless you live in a home for adults with developmental disabilities or serious mental illness, the landlord must give you a Care Home Information Package before you sign a tenancy agreement. Some landlords might call the Information Package a “CHIP”.
The Information Package gives you important information you need to know before you sign a tenancy agreement. You can use it to help you decide if you want to live in the care home.
The Information Package must describe the services you will be paying for. For example, you may want to know how much and what kind of nursing care is included and which services would cost extra.
The Information Package is also useful if you already live in a care home. For example, it could help you choose optional services, or find out how to make a complaint.
What is in the Information Package?
The Information Package tells you about:
- the kinds of rental units in the care home and how much they cost
- the kinds of care service packages at the care home and how much they cost
- the optional services you can get and how much they cost
- the minimum number of staff that must be in the home at all times
- the qualifications of the staff
The Information Package will also include information about the safety features of the care home, like whether it has a sprinkler system. It must also tell you whether there is a personal emergency response system, such as a call bell, and how it works. If there is no personal emergency response system, the Information Package must say this.
The Information Package also tells you if the care home has a complaint process, and if it does, how to make a complaint, and whether you can appeal a decision.
If your care home is a retirement home, your Information Package must include some other information. For example:
- how many staff are on duty at night
- the Retirement Home Residents’ Bill of Rights
- information about the owners of the home
- information about the Residents’ Council
- how the home helps residents move to long-term care homes or other living places
What is not in the Information Package?
The Information Package does not have to tell you:
- which rental unit you will be living in
- how much rent you have agreed to pay
- what services you have agreed to pay for
These things should be in a separate written tenancy agreement.
How do I get a Care Home Information Package?
Ask the landlord for one. If you are thinking about moving into a care home or you already live in one, the landlord must give you an Information Package.
What if the landlord will not give me one?
First, check with a lawyer or community legal clinic to find out if the place you live in, or are thinking of moving into, is a care home. Some landlords do not want their tenants to know they are living in a care home. For information about how to contact a community legal clinic, see the section called How to get legal help.
If you do live in a care home, it is illegal for your landlord to raise your rent or the cost of services until you get an Information Package.
If your landlord will not give you an Information Package, a lawyer or community legal clinic may be able to help.
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