SNH Senior Housing Properties Trust

Senior Housing Properties Trust (NYSE: SNH) today announced that the characterization of dividends for 2009 income tax reporting purposes is as follows:

Common Shares

        Dividend Allocation Per Share       Unrecaptured   Declaration Record Paid/Payable Dividends Ordinary Qualified Capital Section 1250 Return of

Dates

Dates

Dates

Per Share

Income

Dividend

Gain

Gain

Capital

  01/07/09 01/22/09 02/13/09 $0.3500 $0.2665 $0.0000 $0.0000 $0.0000 $0.0835 04/07/09 04/17/09 05/15/09 0.3500 0.2665 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0835 07/01/09 07/10/09 08/14/09 0.3600 0.2741 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0859 10/05/09 10/15/09 11/17/09 0.3600 0.2741 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0859 TOTALS: $1.4200 $1.0812 $0.0000 $0.0000 $0.0000 $0.3388 100.00% 76.14% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 23.86%

SNH’s common share CUSIP number is 81721M109. This information represents final income allocations.

SNH is a real estate investment trust headquartered in Newton, MA.

A Maryland Real Estate Investment Trust with transferable shares of beneficial interest listed on the New York Stock Exchange.No shareholder, Trustee or officer is personally liable for any act or obligation of the Trust.