Myrl Rowan thought she'd be happy living in The Carlisle, a senior retirement community and assisted-living facility in North Naples. So she moved there in January 2001.

Mary Comerford also moved into one of the independent-living apartments the same month. Both women have family nearby, so visits would be a breeze.

They signed annual leases, made new friends, and settled down to enjoy their golden years. Rowan, 92, and Comerford, 82, are in good health.

When it came time to renew their leases, they both got a shocker: Their rents for this year is increasing by a double-digit percentage.

Both women became distraught, and their families felt betrayed. Their families had been told during initial lease discussions that rent increases for this year would be minimal “ $100 or less.

"I asked (the lease agent) specifically what the possible rent increase would be," said Carol Crowe, Rowan's daughter who lives in Bonita Springs. "She said 3 and 1/2 to 5 percent a year would be the top."

But Carlisle's director told her mother that her rent was increasing $540 a month starting Jan. 1. That's a 39 percent increase from what she had been paying, for a new monthly rent of $1,930.

Comerford's daughter, Joan Guck, of Naples, said she was originally told her mother's rent wouldn't increase more than $75 or $100 for this year.

"We took their verbal word," Guck said.

Her mother, who had a garden-view apartment, learned from the Carlisle's director that her rent would be raised by $390 a month, a 25 percent increase, for a new monthly rent of $1,980.

"I said, 'What?' " Comerford said. "I said I live on my Social Security. I can't afford to pay that amount of money."

"My mother cried constantly," Guck said. "She started to get pains in her legs. She got depressed. They took that spark of life and living out of her."

The Carlisle, licensed as an ALF, is owned by HealthTrust America, a privately held company headquartered in Dania on Florida's east coast.

Both women received letters from the Carlisle stating their rent increases were due to substantial increases in liability insurance premiums, a consequence of the high number of lawsuits that the long-term care industry has been experiencing in Florida. Moreover, the letter said The Carlisle's other insurance premiums have been affected by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

HealthTrust America president Harvey Rafofski declined to comment about the increases or about the explanation given to the two women about increased liability premiums.

Both of the women's daughters learned they have no recourse.

"It's a landlord-tenant issue," said David Ennis, a Naples attorney who takes on nursing-home abuse and neglect cases.

The state has no power to act against ALFs which impose high rent increases.

"We really don't have a say in that," state Department of Elder Affairs spokeswoman Joan Spain said.

The state's Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program, responsible for investigating complaints against long-term care centers, has gotten complaints about large rent spikes in ALFs but hasn't tracked the numbers.

Often, investigators' hands are tied, said Janet Findling, the legal advocate for the ombudsman program.

"If it doesn't say anything in the lease or contract, they (the facilities) are allowed to up the rent," she said. "But if the contract says it won't go up by a certain amount and they break it, we certainly would investigate and take it on as a case. It is far better if it (is stated) in the lease."

Paul Williams, executive director of Florida Assisted Living Affiliate, the largest ALF trade group in the state, said a rent increase of 38 percent "is very unusual."

At the same time, he said retirement communities and ALFs are getting hit with rising liability insurance premiums the same as the nursing-home industry, the cost of which is getting passed on to residents.

Crowe and Guck said they realized their only solution was to move their mothers out of The Carlisle.

Independently, they each chose The Plaza at Bonita Bay. The Plaza directors agreed to put in the leases that next year's rent increase, and in subsequent years, couldn't exceed 6 percent, Crowe said. Guck got the same deal for her mother.

"I told them exactly what had happened," Crowe said. "We're not going to go through that again."