NSW Better Regulation and Innovation Minister Kevin Anderson (pictured) is requiring retirement village operators in the Central Coast and Lake Macquarie local government areas to collect data on village dwelling vacancy rates.
The data on vacancies and the time it takes to fill them will be used to determine whether the two developing areas fall under metropolitan or regional classification.
The NSW Retirement Villages Residents Association said the review was important because it will influence the time it takes for departed residents to be paid out their exit entitlements and protect them from unreasonable delays.
Until now, there has been no data available to inform rational decisions about how quickly village operators should be required to return monies they owed departed residents.
Retirement village residents in the Central Coast and Lake Macquarie were shocked earlier this year when new regulations stated they were living in a regional classification.
“The NSW Government has agreed to review the data next year, between July and September, to determine if a metropolitan classification is, as we believe, needed,” said NSW Retirement Villages Residents Association President Craig Bennett, who met Mr Reynolds at Forresters Beach Retirement Village.
