Last Thursday the Property Council (incorporating the RLC), LASA and ACSA jointly released the final draft of the Retirement Living Code of Conduct for comment by operators, residents and the general public.
They also wish to include land lease communities under this Code of Conduct (even though they don’t represent them).
They state the Code “seeks to establish a commonly accepted standard to help operators provide a trusted and high quality service to those living in, or considering moving to a retirement community”.
A major objective is “to provide a framework to assist open, transparent and efficient resolution of complaints by residents”.
The Code is voluntary but: “All member organisations will be asked to subscribe to the standards contained in the Code and accountability mechanisms will be developed through the Code Administration Committee (CAC) to ensure sanctions for those communities and organisations that have failed to comply”.
The principles and the document were heavily guided by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s “Guidelines for Developing Effective Voluntary Industry Codes of Conduct” (ACCC), with one objective being to “provide industry leadership to promote effective self-regulation”.
The Code is to be administered by the Code Administration Committee which will have seven members, of which three will be nominated by the peak bodies (The RLC, ACSA, and LASA).
Two resident representatives will be nominated by resident associations. One will be a regulatory/consumer affairs representative. The Secretary will be nominated by the peak bodies. The CAC will meet at least twice a year.
The Code is to be self-auditing with a report made by the operator once a year to the CAC.
A major emphasis of the Code is resident dispute resolution. It seeks to resolve complaints at the community or operator level within 15 working days. It provides an escalation pathway.
Complaints first go to the village manager, then a senior manager or executive of the operator, then to the CAC in writing where it will be recorded and referred to an external independent dispute resolution service, typically a state government mediation service, with the final destination being the regulatory authority.
‘Resident to resident’ complaints are not covered under the Code for complaints handling.
The Code seeks for marketing and sales material to be “legal, honest and truthful; current, clear, accurate and consistent”.
Contracts will be written in plain English and customers ‘encouraged’ to seek independent legal advice.
The Code requires operators to “agree to a clear process for consulting and responding to the Australian Retirement Village Residents Association… where they are representing residents”.
Operators “will appoint managers possessing the required skills…and will provide ongoing staff training”.
The disciplinary action available to the CAC will be:
“In cases of gross repeated non-compliance, including those arising out of relevant proven criminal activity, the CAC will remove a signatory from the Code of Register”.
You can download a copy of the code of conduct HERE.
You can make comments and input to Paul Murphy – principal adviser – retirement living in seniors housing, Leading Age Services Australia, via paulm@lasa.asn.au.
