NSW Fair Trading is calling for public comment on draft reforms for the state’s retirement villages, including a need for greater transparency in village contracts.
The Department says the new regulations will keep a number of the existing provisions, while making moves to reduce administration requirements for operators and improve protections for new and existing residents.
Submissions close 20 July. You can make a submission here.
They have been put together by the Department of Finance, Services and Innovation in partnership with key stakeholders, include:
- Guaranteeing that re-painting of exteriors once every 10 years is capital maintenance
- Requiring copies of a village’s insurance policy documents be available to residents
- A new ‘average resident comparison figure’ in the Disclosure Statement to allow better comparison between villages
- Reducing the maximum amount payable for an operator’s legal and other expenses to $50
- Adding new matters for which village rules can be created, including smoking in communal areas
- Requiring clearer information in annual budgets around head office expenses
- Lowering the maximum amount allocated for contingencies to $1
- Banning additional matters that cannot be financed by recurrent charges
- Simplifying the process for allowing residents to hold office on a residents committee for longer than three years; and
- Allowing documents to be sent electronically.
