I hope I'm posting in the right please, and I'll try to keep this sort.
Mum moved in to a residential village last December (2022).
And it has been an absolute nightmare, so many issues, I won't list them all here, but primarily, I have grave concerns about these issues, and wondered if anyone knows if I can do anything about these please?
- The retirement village put the price up by over £4,000pa per tenant in March '23, less than three months after mum moved in. This was a huge shock and I challenged it and asked for complete transparency of when they were aware these prices increases were known about, as if they'd known when we agreed to the tenancy, mum would not have agreed to it, and stayed where she was (saving herself an absolute fortune as she's spent thousands doing the place up along with paying the rent and service charges). After months and months of chasing them, I finally got a reply, quite condescendingly telling me they apologised for the technical jargon, like I am some kind of idiot! - So I was determined to read this and understand it, as it was definitely trying to throw me off the scent. In their email, it is stated three times that they were aware of upcoming 'substantial increases in prices' before my mum agreed to the tenancy. So, they knew about it, but failed to tell us. Which took away our ability to decide against the tenancy had we known about these increases. A later email tries to backtrack saying there are some mistakes in their first email (hard to believe, it's from a manager apparently), but still state they were aware of substantial increased before my mum agreed to the tenancy. Can I do anything about this does anyone know? I probably need legal advice, but thought I'd ask on here in case anyone can advise in the meantime.
- When we went to view, they said that mum had to have care package as it was a care apartment. This is £21.34ph, for 4 hours pw - The very basic level. She doesn't need care to be honest, but they said if she wanted the apartment, she'd have to have their care plan. I have since found out from Adult Social Services that this is a lie, mum did not need to accept their care, so they lied to us. I did ask how long she would be on the waiting list if mum didn't take the 'care apartment', and they said months to years, so I felt they put us on the spot, lied to us, and pushed us in to making a quick decision based on these now apparent lies. They're now saying mum hasn't paid for any of the care she's had, and owes them over £3,115. Before we signed the tenancy, I checked with them the total amount that she'd be paying per month so I could budget for her, and they gave me a figure, which we agreed to (pre price hike above), and presumed the care was within this as I'd asked for a total price and they insisted she had to have the care plan, so to have a call today saying they've not charged her in error, demanding proof of her paying monthly via bank statements, etc., is a huge shock. Can they do this? They've been to see her and told her this, and she's so upset. She's elderly, not in great health and is vulnerable. I am furious with them, I have specifically told them to deal with me and not to bother mum. They've ignored me yet again, and now mum is in a right state.
- Huge amounts of a controlled drug (the strongest cocodamol) were recently going missing from mum's apartment. This only started when the carers started to administer her medication in April of this year. Only this medication was taken, and yes it was taken, leaving surplus of other medication. I noticed an unsealed box which I thought was strange as I know mum never takes it, so I opened it and at a glance it looked like the medication was in there as the information leaflet was manipulated to make it look like there were blister packs under the info leaflet. However, I removed the leaflet and saw 60 out of 100 tablets were missing. I checked another box, and 80 out of 100 were missing, with another whole box completely missing. A further 10 went missing after I'd checked and then removed them from her apartment for safeguarding, so 250 in total have been taken. I had been meaning to call her GP to say to only administer on an 'as needed' basis, as mum never takes them as they affect her bowels. She has not taken these tablets, and no one else has access to where this medication was. And like I said, it's only since the carers started to administer her medication that it started to go missing. They've apparently done an investigation and obviously (as expected) denied it, but it's now out of my hands, as Social Services are investigating the residential home re this, and I hope that they get to the bottom of this, because even though I don't have solid proof, I know without doubt that these were stolen from mum. And the only ones who had access were the so called carers.
There's so much more, I am at my wits end. The place is a nightmare, and totally unlike what people had told me about the place, else I'd never have let mum go in there.
Mum's running out of money at an alarming rate with this price hike (she was breaking even before this increase), and I need to get her out of there, but it was a nightmare getting her in, and she's just started to settle, so I dread to think we've got to go through this again and mum will be uprooted only to have to try and settle in somewhere else.
Can anyone help with any of the above issues please?
Thanks for taking the time to read, I do appreciate it.
TIA.