What happens when a nursing home closes?
James Craig
Published Feb 26, 2026
The closing facility is obligated to provide the same quality of care and services until a suitable new home is found for its residents. However, in these unique circumstances, it is often left to you and your family to facilitate a move to another location that meets your needs and best interests.
What causes a nursing home to be shut down?
A nursing home may make the decision to close voluntarily for a number of different reasons, but usually it is due to finances or a low number of residents in the building. The State may close the nursing home due to poor care or other issues.
Do you need to sell the house if your parents are in a nursing home?
You don’t want an empty house sitting around, and perhaps you don’t want to deal with renters. What’s more, you may believe your folks need the income from the house sale to help pay for their nursing home care in the long-term. The problem is, only the person who owns the house can transfer the house to a buyer.
Do you need to sell your home for Aged Care?
Keeping the former home is one strategy to minimise aged care fees as the majority of the value of the home (above $144,000) is not means tested. So you can see, you may not need to sell the family home to fund the aged care bond and fees after all! This is a very complex area financially so please call our office on 1300 659 677 for help.
Can a nursing home take your family home?
When our clients meet with us after their loved ones have been admitted to a nursing home, one of their first questions is usually whether they will have to sell their family home. The short answer is, “No, the nursing home will not take your home or make you sell it.”
What happens to my mom’s home if I sell it?
But for most, the house gets sold. When the property is sold – you need to have a DPOA that clearly allows for any & all finances to be done for mom too – the proceeds (the $) of the sale of the home will need to go to mom 100% as an asset. All the $ from the house sale is now mom’s totally liquid $ asset.
