WWYD? Mom can get a one or two year lease.

[Anonymous]

She is turning 93 in a few months. Has lived in the same apartment for seven years. Flight of stairs to get into her building and then up to 2nd floor. About 10 steps each. She can renew her lease for one or two years.Two year lease would be about $18/month more. So which time frame would you recommend? I know, a million things can happen to her health, but I dread that in 12 or 13 months, she would need a new place to live.

[Anonymous]

Uhh, I'd venture to guess that most of us cannot even imagine a 93 year-old living in a walk-up apartment, let alone a 94 or 95 year-old.

[Anonymous]

Can you write an addendum to the lease?

[Anonymous]

Why couldn’t she renew again in 12 months if it is still working?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why couldn’t she renew again in 12 months if it is still working?

oP: she could but suspect the landlord would raise the rent considerably vs. this situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Uhh, I'd venture to guess that most of us cannot even imagine a 93 year-old living in a walk-up apartment, let alone a 94 or 95 year-old.

I can't even imagine moving into a place like that at 86 (age when OP's mom first started there!)

[Anonymous]

Even if she can manage the stairs right now, how much is she getting out? Or is she mostly stuck at home?

[Anonymous]

OP, the decision: 1 year lease vs 2 year lease, is the least of your problems.

[Anonymous]

Since your priority should be to move her out of this place, I suggest paying the lease period that fits closest to the delay it will take to find that place.

[Anonymous]

I would move her now to independent living that has other options if things go south. She has been VERY lucky so far with those stairs. Don't press the luck.

[Anonymous]

Your mom sounds amazing!

[Anonymous]

I had a four (!) year lease for my 80 year old mom in a condo. It was a private owner and after the first year he jacked the price up and demanded a four year lease. She was happy there and I didn’t want to have to move her again so I signed. But I looked into the law in Montgomery County, MD where she lived and she was able to break the lease with minimal issues if she needed more services than she could get there. We ended up having to move her about 1.5 years later. So check the laws in the jurisdiction and you could have a out.

[Anonymous]

Perhaps you could negotiate with the landlord for a two-year lease with an early termination provision that allows her to terminate the lease with 30 days’ notice if she provides verification from a medical provider that it is no longer safe for her to live in the building due to the stairs or other factors? That would give her stability in her housing if she can stay there another two years, but limits the financial exposure if she needs to move to AL or a nursing home earlier. The doctor’s verification gives the landlord some comfort that she won’t terminate on a whim.

[Anonymous]

I would not do a 2 year lease, especially at her age. I’d move her to a more accessible place while she is healthy. It stinks to have to make decisions during a crisis and the fact is that in her 90s it’s more reasonable to expect she will have mobility issues than not. My mother was suddenly unable to walk due to cancer and by the time we could even get the house modified she had passed. She spent the last few months lamenting the fact she didn’t move to a one level condo/apartment sooner. I help my elderly aunt out and even at 76 she is always having unforeseen health emergencies. She’s currently in a nursing home hoping to be discharged back to her retirement community where her home is thankfully accessible with no steps. My 83 year old dad is very spry and active living in a 2 story home that he refuses to move from. I worry what will happen if he has something pop up.