Equity (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended								12 Months Ended			1 Months Ended		1 Months Ended															12 Months Ended				12 Months Ended											2 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	10 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2011	Sep. 30, 2011	Jun. 30, 2011	Mar. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Sep. 30, 2010	Jun. 30, 2010	Mar. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2011 Partnership	Dec. 31, 2010 Partnership	Dec. 31, 2009 Partner Partnership	Jan. 31, 2012 Conversion of noncontrolling interest Partner	Dec. 31, 2011 Conversion of noncontrolling interest	Mar. 31, 2012 Dividend distributions	Feb. 29, 2012 Dividend distributions	Jan. 31, 2012 Dividend distributions	Dec. 31, 2011 Dividend distributions	Nov. 30, 2011 Dividend distributions	Oct. 31, 2011 Dividend distributions	Sep. 30, 2011 Dividend distributions	Aug. 31, 2011 Dividend distributions	Jul. 31, 2011 Dividend distributions	Jun. 30, 2011 Dividend distributions	May 31, 2011 Dividend distributions	Apr. 30, 2011 Dividend distributions	Mar. 31, 2011 Dividend distributions	Feb. 28, 2011 Dividend distributions	Jan. 31, 2011 Dividend distributions	Dec. 31, 2011 Underwritten public offering	Dec. 31, 2010 Equity Distribution Agreement	Dec. 31, 2009 Equity Distribution Agreement	Dec. 31, 2011 Equity Distribution Agreement	Dec. 31, 2010 Registered Direct Placement	Dec. 31, 2011 Shelf Registration	Dec. 31, 2011 Total Cumulative Preferred Stock	Dec. 31, 2010 Total Cumulative Preferred Stock	Dec. 31, 2011 Series C Cumulative Convertible Preferred Stock	Dec. 31, 2010 Series C Cumulative Convertible Preferred Stock	Dec. 31, 2011 Series E Cumulative Convertible Preferred Stock	Dec. 31, 2010 Series E Cumulative Convertible Preferred Stock	Dec. 31, 2011 Series F Cumulative Preferred Stock	Dec. 31, 2010 Series F Cumulative Preferred Stock	Dec. 31, 2009 Series F Cumulative Preferred Stock	Dec. 31, 2010 Common Stock	Mar. 31, 2012 Common Stock	Oct. 31, 2010 Common Stock	Dec. 31, 2011 Common Stock	Dec. 31, 2010 Common Stock
Equity
Shares outstanding (in shares)	2,000,000				5,536,000				2,000,000	5,536,000																									2,000,000	5,536,530	2,000,000	2,000,000				3,536,530
Liquidation Value Per share (in dollars per share)																																					$ 19.25				$ 25.00
Dividend Rate (as a percent)																																					8.50%				8.00%
Carrying Value (in dollars per share)	$ 0.01				$ 0.01				$ 0.01	$ 0.01																											$ 18.80	$ 18.80				$ 23.99
Number of shares of common stock to be issued upon conversion (in shares)																																					2,000,000	2,000,000
Conversion price per share (in dollars per share)																																							$ 12.50
Redemption price (in dollars per share)																																								$ 25.4191	$ 25.1333	$ 25.3889
Number of shares of preferred stock elected to be converted to common shares (in shares)																																								32,895
Common stock issued upon conversion (in shares)																																								65,790
Number of shares of preferred stock redeemed (in shares)																																								(4,921)	3,536,530	2,357,686
Income allocated to preferred stockholders									$ 9,078,000	$ 16,045,000	$ 14,515,000																													$ 6,000	$ 3,566,000	$ 2,377,000
Percentage of outstanding shares redeemed																																										40.00%
Investment for repurchase of preferred stock																																											2,000,000
Number of shares repurchased (in shares)																																											(109,484)
Average cost per share (in dollars per share)																																											$ 18.27
Maximum aggregate offering price of shares authorized for issuance																																85,686,000
Common stock sold (in shares)																													3,990,000	776,400	30,000		1,970,000
Weighted average price per share of common stock sold (in dollars shares)																														$ 25.55	$ 25.54
Sale price of common stock (in dollars shares)																													$ 27.25				$ 24.70
Net proceeds																													103,631,000	19,838,000	766,000		47,956,000
Fees and costs																													5,096,000	492,000	18,000		703,000
Amount available under equity distribution agreement																																64,573,000
Amount available under effective shelf registration statement																																		167,614,000
Maximum offering capacity under shelf registration statement																																		400,000,000
Dividend Distributions
Declared	54,804,000				52,703,000				54,804,000	52,703,000																									5,512,000	13,662,000	3,272,000	3,272,000		42,000	2,240,000	10,348,000		39,041,000			49,292,000	39,041,000
Paid									56,572,000	53,902,000	51,373,000																								7,280,000	14,861,000	3,272,000	3,272,000		62,000	4,008,000	11,527,000					49,292,000	39,041,000
Dividend declared per share per month (in dollars per share)	$ 0.42	$ 0.42	$ 0.42	$ 0.42	$ 0.41	$ 0.39	$ 0.39	$ 0.39						$ 0.145	$ 0.145	$ 0.145	$ 0.14	$ 0.14	$ 0.14	$ 0.14	$ 0.14	$ 0.14	$ 0.14	$ 0.14	$ 0.14	$ 0.14	$ 0.14	$ 0.14																$ 0.14	$ 0.145	$ 0.13
Dividend paid per share per month (in dollars per share)	$ 0.42	$ 0.42	$ 0.42	$ 0.42	$ 0.41	$ 0.39	$ 0.39	$ 0.39	$ 1.68	$ 1.58	$ 1.56																																	$ 0.14		$ 0.13
Increase in dividend declared per share per month (as a percent)																3.60%
Non-controlling Interests
Number of limited partnerships									1	1	1
Limited partnership, conversion basis									one-for-one basis
Carrying value of the partnership conversion rights	1,962,000				1,962,000				1,962,000	1,962,000
Carrying amount of the limited partner's interest in the partnership											1,144,000
Market value of the partnership conversion rights	3,522,000								3,522,000
Number of limited partners exercising conversion rights											1	2
Number of limited partners exchanging all of their 67,294 partnership units												1
Number of partnership units converted by first limited partner (in shares)												67,294
Number of partnership units converted by second limited partner (in shares)												22,000
Redemption notification of limited partnership units (in shares)											67,294	89,294
Number of partnership units converted (in shares)											67,294
Cash paid, redemption of non-controlling interest												2,764,000
Margin added to the common stock price per share on redemption date to determine amount to be paid to limited partner (in dollars per share)												$ 0.05
Excess of redemption value over the book value												1,246,000
Number of shares reserved under limited partnership interest													23,294
Change from net income attributable and transfers from non-controlling interest
Net income attributable to LTC Properties, Inc									49,252,000	45,862,000	44,064,000
Transfers from the non-controlling interest: Increase in paid-in capital for limited partners conversion											1,144,000
Change from net income attributable to LTC Properties, Inc. and transfers from non-controlling interest									49,252,000	45,862,000	45,208,000
Common Stock
Common shares reserved for issuance (in shares)					112,588					112,588
Number of shares authorized to be repurchased (in shares)	5,000,000								5,000,000
Number of shares that must be repurchased for authorization to expire									5,000,000
Remaining number of shares authorized to be repurchased (in shares)	3,360,237								3,360,237
Other Equity
Accumulated other comprehensive income	$ 199,000				$ 264,000				$ 199,000	$ 264,000