Legal Issues

Cooloola Waters Retirement Village fails to overturn $22K payout ruling to former real estate agent

Cooloola Water Holdings, which runs Cooloola Waters Retirement Village at Tin Can Bay, in Queensland’s Gympie region, has failed in a bid to overturn an order to pay more than $22,000 in commissions to a former real estate agent who helped broker...

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Ian Horswill

19 May 2025

Legal Issues

NSW Land and Environment Court approves Adria Care’s retirement village plan for Wollongong’s Croatian community

After agreeing to reduce the number of units and the hieght of the development, a continuum of care project wrapping around the Croatian Catholic Church in the suburb of Figtree has been approved. The vision was to provide a space for the wider...

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Ian Horswill

19 May 2025

Legal Issues

2025 LEADERS SUMMIT: The latest on retirement village laws in Australia

Tammy Berghofer, Partner at MinterEllison specialising in Real Estate and Retirement Living, outlined recent developments in the Retirement Villages Acts across various states during day two of the 2025 LEADERS SUMMIT. Tammy revealed how the...

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Ian Horswill

12 May 2025

Legal Issues

Class action launched by Echo Law against Bupa Aged Care

After seeking interested parties for nearly 12 months, class action specialist Echo Law has launched proceedings against one of Australia’s largest providers, Bupa Aged Care, on behalf of residents between 1 July 2019 and 11 April 2025.

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Caroline Egan

17 Apr 2025

Legal Issues

Retirement living residents living in Cairns Regional Council face 800% rate increases

The council proposes in the 2025/26 financial year, the minimum general rate for one dwelling would be applied to each unit in a retirement village, as opposed to charging the village as one dwelling as has been the case. Oak Tree Retirement Village...

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Ian Horswill

07 Apr 2025

Legal Issues

Operators and residents urged to have a say on SA’s proposed regulations for new Retirement Villages (Miscellaneous) Amendment Act 2024

Stakeholder feedback will help shape the proposed amendments to the state’s Retirement Villages Regulations 2017. Key changes include: Improved transparency in contracts and disclosure statements for prospective residents; Enhanced codes of...

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Ian Horswill

07 Apr 2025

Legal Issues

ACT workshop: Government requires retirement living operators have elder abuse strategy in place from 27 May

ACT Discrimination, Health Services, Disability and Community Services Commissioner Karen Toohey will be at Goodwin Aged Care Services on Wednesday for the second successive week talking to retirement living operators about the territory’s...

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Ian Horswill

07 Apr 2025

Legal Issues

Public Prosecutor to appeal Kristian White sentence over Clare Nowland death

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) has indicated it will challenge the sentence handed down to former NSW Senior Constable Kristian White last week for the manslaughter of 95-year-old aged care resident Clare Nowland. Last...

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Caroline Egan

03 Apr 2025

Legal Issues

Former police officer avoids jail for Taser death of 95-year-old Clare Nowland

Four months after being found guilty of the manslaughter of Clare Nowland, Yallambee Lodge aged care resident in Cooma, former NSW Senior Constable Kristian White has walked free from court following his sentencing hearing.

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Lauren Broomham

28 Mar 2025

Legal Issues

Adder Holdings, owner of Harbour Pines retirement village, Geraldton, WA, taken to court over signed and paid contract

The son of a woman who had paid to live in a retirement village, 424km north of Perth, which operates under the state’s strata laws, has lodged a claim in the District Court of Western Australia against the operator. Retired nurse Barbara Allen...

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Ian Horswill

24 Mar 2025

Legal Issues

MinterEllison: a suite of tools to help providers transition to the new Aged Care Act

With the commencement of the new Aged Care Act 2024 on 1 July 2025, providers will need to make preparations to meet their obligations under the new legislative framework.

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Caroline Egan

20 Mar 2025

Legal Issues

Mbark hopes by May to have clarity on its 10-year bid to build retirement village in Canberra

In November last year, Mbark was given conditional approval of a lease variation by the ACT Government to build the retirement village of 125 dwellings (77 houses and 48 units in six three-storey blocks) on 6ha of the club’s golf course

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Ian Horswill

10 Feb 2025

Legal Issues

Victorian retirement living operators need to consider financial and operating models under new laws: Rosemary Southgate, Russell Kennedy

Rosemary Southgate, Principal, Property and Development, Russell Kennedy, said the full extent of Victoria’s Retirement Villages Amendment Bill 2024, expected to be passed in early 2025, is still unknown. “Changes to the pre contract disclosure...

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Ian Horswill

03 Feb 2025