The Department of Social Services’ (DSS) Office of Regulation Development has proposed a number of regulations pertaining to admission agreements, most notably the following related to refunds:
87507(g)(5)(C)
Proposed Regulation: “A refund of any prepaid monthly fees shall be given if the resident provides notice five days before the resident leaves the facility. The refund shall be a proportional daily amount of any prepaid monthly fee(s), and shall be refunded at the time the resident leaves the facility and the unit is vacated.”
DSS opened up its proposed regulations to public comment and 6Beds took the opportunity to address the proposed regulations with these comments, which were submitted on February 2, 2016. Notably, 6Beds provided the following comment in response to the above proposed regulation that would allow for a refund after only providing a five day notice before the resident leaves the facility:
6Beds Comment: The proposed regulation misapplies Health & Safety Section 1569.682, which references a resident receiving a refund upon the resident’s leaving the facility after a five day notice only in the context of a forfeiture of license or change of use of the facility. Instead, the proposed regulation would allow a resident to provide a five day notice and obtain a refund of any prepaid fees beyond the five days under any and all circumstances. However, under circumstances outside of forfeiture of license or change of use of the facility, residents must provide a 30 day notice.
6Beds Recommendation: 6Beds recommends that the proposed regulation be modified to reflect that the five day notice and corresponding refund applies only in the event of forfeiture of license or change of use of the facility.
6Beds will provide an update after DSS’ Office of Regulation Development has responded to its comments.