CareCheck
Assisted Living Contract Glossary
Key takeaways
- A short, plain-language reference for the terms that actually appear in an assisted living residency agreement.
- Some terms — like a community fee vs. a security deposit — sound interchangeable but mean very different financial commitments.
- "UDALSA" and CCRC contract types (A/B/C) are worth knowing by name before you're handed a real document that uses them.
- Ask a community to define any term in its own contract that doesn't match a definition here — house terminology varies.
An assisted living residency agreement uses a specific vocabulary that most families encounter for the first time while reading one. Here are the terms that come up most often, defined plainly — cross-referenced with the full guides where there's more to know.
Terms
UDALSA (Uniform Disclosure of Assisted Living Services and Amenities)
A standardized disclosure document some states require a community to provide before signing, listing base services, optional service fees, and staffing in a consistent format the community can't rewrite. See the assisted living contract guide for where this fits into a full review.
Community Fee
A one-time fee charged at move-in, commonly $2,000–$6,000, separate from rent and the security deposit, usually non-refundable once the resident moves in. See community fees and refund language.
Level of Care
A facility's internal tier system, usually set by an assessment, for how much hands-on assistance a resident needs with daily activities — typically the biggest driver of monthly cost after the base rent. See the contract checklist.
Responsible Party
The person who signs the contract and may take on financial or legal obligations for the resident — often not the resident themselves. See responsible-party and guarantor clauses for the difference between signing as agent and signing as guarantor.
CCRC Type A / B / C Contract
The three common Continuing Care Retirement Community contract structures — Type A ("life care") bundles future nursing care into one fee; Type B ("modified") includes a limited amount at a discount; Type C ("fee-for-service") charges market rate for care as needed. See what is a CCRC.
Bed Hold Fee
A daily charge to keep a resident's room reserved during a hospital stay or extended absence, usually at a reduced rate for a limited number of days before the full fee resumes.
Involuntary Discharge (or Involuntary Transfer)
A facility-initiated move-out of a resident, which most states require to include a documented notice period and a stated reason tied to specific discharge criteria in the contract. See move-out and discharge terms.
Move-In Fee vs. Community Fee
Terms sometimes used interchangeably and sometimes describing different charges depending on the community — always ask a facility to define its own term in writing rather than assuming it matches a definition used elsewhere.
Second-Person Fee
An additional monthly charge, often several hundred dollars, for a second person sharing a resident's apartment — common for couples and easy to miss because it's billed as a separate line rather than folded into the total. See hidden and additional fees.
Have the actual documents?
CareCheck reads the residency agreement, fee schedule, care assessment, and any written offer as one set — pulling out every fee, linking each to the page it came from, and flagging where the documents disagree.
Check a contract Try the cost calculator