Under the Queensland Retirement Villages Act 1999, an amendment in 2017 required retirement village operators to pay exit entitlements within 18 months of a resident’s departure, unless doing so would cause the operator undue hardship.
Now Queensland Communities and Housing Minister Leeanne Enoch (pictured) wants retirement village residents, operators and stakeholders to have their say on an independent review which recommends reducing the timeframe for payment of exit entitlements to 12 months.
“It is important to get this right, so we are seeking feedback from those who are engaged with retirement villages in any way, about the benefits, costs and implementation challenges of the recommendations,” she said.
In addition, the current law states that an operator is permitted to withhold the exit entitlement if it causes “undue hardship”.
The independent review recommends the operator only be given a further six months to withhold the exit entitlement and to broaden the grounds on which the extension can be granted.
To provide feedback on the government response click here.
