ACQUISITIONS (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended								12 Months Ended					12 Months Ended									12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012	Sep. 30, 2012	Jun. 30, 2012	Mar. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Sep. 30, 2011	Jun. 30, 2011	Mar. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2010 HCP, Inc. [Member]	Nov. 01, 2010 HCP, Inc. [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 HCP, Inc. [Member] Acquisition-related Costs [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 HCP, Inc. [Member] Acquisition-related Costs [Member] Residence Lease Expense [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 HCP, Inc. [Member] Acquisition-related Costs [Member] Interest Expense [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 HCP, Inc. [Member] Acquisition-related Costs [Member] Depreciation and Amortization [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 HCP, Inc. [Member] Acquisition-related Costs [Member] Income Tax [Member]	Nov. 01, 2010 HCP, Inc. [Member] Buildings [Member]	Nov. 01, 2010 HCP, Inc. [Member] Land [Member]	Nov. 01, 2010 HCP, Inc. [Member] New Jersey [Member]	Nov. 01, 2010 HCP, Inc. [Member] Texas [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Ventas Realty, Limited Partnership [Member]	Jun. 15, 2012 Ventas Realty, Limited Partnership [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Ventas Realty, Limited Partnership [Member] Acquisition-related Costs [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Ventas Realty, Limited Partnership [Member] Acquisition-related Costs [Member] Residence Lease Expense [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Ventas Realty, Limited Partnership [Member] Acquisition-related Costs [Member] Interest Expense [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Ventas Realty, Limited Partnership [Member] Acquisition-related Costs [Member] Depreciation and Amortization [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Ventas Realty, Limited Partnership [Member] Acquisition-related Costs [Member] Income Tax [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Ventas Realty, Limited Partnership [Member] Acquisition-related Costs [Member] Net Income from Operations [Member]	Jun. 15, 2012 Ventas Realty, Limited Partnership [Member] Land [Member]	Jun. 15, 2012 Ventas Realty, Limited Partnership [Member] Buildings and improvements [Member]	Jun. 15, 2012 Ventas Realty, Limited Partnership [Member] Alabama [Member]	Jun. 15, 2012 Ventas Realty, Limited Partnership [Member] South Carolina [Member]	Jun. 15, 2012 Ventas Realty, Limited Partnership [Member] Florida [Member]	Jun. 15, 2012 Ventas Realty, Limited Partnership [Member] Georgia [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Number of residences acquired											9		9								2	7		12									1	4	1	5
Number of residences units	9,348								9,348				365											696
Purchase price of residences acquired													$ 27,500,000						$ 24,100,000	$ 3,400,000				$ 97,000,000
Litigation settlement fee																							3,000,000
ALC credit facility amount	125,000,000								125,000,000															125,000,000
Unamortized leasehold improvements reclassified												500,000											3,100,000
Lease termination and settlement fees									37,430,000	0	0												37,500,000
Impairment of operating lease intangible			8,700,000						8,650,000	0	0												8,700,000
Transactions costs									1,046,000	0	0												1,000,000
Summary of initial estimated fair values of the assets acquired at the acquisition date [Abstract]
Total																								62,570,000							5,770,000	56,800,000
Business acquisition, Pro forma information, nonrecurring adjustment [Line Items]
Net (loss)/income to common stockholders	$ (2,623,000)	$ (4,042,000)	$ (25,109,000)	$ 5,649,000	$ 7,310,000	$ 5,763,000	$ 6,276,000	$ 5,011,000	$ (26,125,000)	$ 24,360,000	$ 16,484,000			$ 100,000	$ (2,700,000)	$ 1,800,000	$ 700,000	$ 100,000							$ 400,000	$ (3,000,000)	$ 1,500,000	$ 900,000	$ 200,000	$ 600,000
Business acquisition, financing interest rate (in hundredths)													6.50%											3.30%