The implementation of NSW Fair Trading’s requirement for NSW retirement villages to have an Asset Management Plan (AMP) continues to have a rocky start.

A survey by the NSW Retirement Village Residents Association (RVRA) found 52.6% of respondents had not yet received a three-year report for capital maintenance with the annual budget. The capital maintenance report is meant to be extracted from the AMP to inform expenditure for the annual budget.

Only 44.5% of retirement villages have seen an AMP available for residents to review and discuss with management.

All operators of retirement villages must prepare and keep up-to-date an AMP that complies with the Retirement Villages Act 1999 and the Retirement Villages Regulation 2017.

Craig Bennett, NSW RVRA President, said the association was in talks with the Property Council and NSW Fair Trading to make the AMP “easier for everyone”.

“It’s the first year of use and you expect there to be issues. The AMP is a hard job for operators and residents to understand the multitude of small print. There has to be an easier formulated way of the AMP,” he said.

“The AMP is great as residents need to know how much they are going to pay in the short and medium term. Sometimes the trees get lost in the forest.” 

The SOURCE reported last Tuesday that NSW Fair Trading had fined Kiama Council’s Blue Haven retirement village $2,200 for failing to keep an up-to-date AMP for its Terralong and Bonaira independent living units.