The second set of amendments to the Retirement Village Legislation Amendment Bill 2018 will affect people currently living in (and seeking to live in) a retirement village in the ACT.
Here are the major changes:
- One vote one Unit – where two or more residents occupy the same residential premises within a retirement village, only one will be able to cast a vote. Currently, every resident is entitled to vote at a residents meeting. However, residents may still allow each individual resident within the retirement village to vote (even where they live with another resident) by special resolution.
- Capital maintenance and capital replacement– the Bill expands the definition of capital replacement to extend to replacement of a part of a capital item. This will ensure that recurrent charges paid by residents are not used by the operator to replace any part of a capital item, which is the responsibility of the operator. The ACT Government may also make guidelines specifying that a particular item falls under the definition of capital replacement.
- Optional Conciliation – Retirement village residents will now have the option of requiring the operator to conciliate any dispute under the Retirement Villages Act 2012 (ACT). Once finalised, the agreement will have the same effect as an order of the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
