Victorian retirement village operators have 30 days from today to respond to the latest discussion paper from the Department of Consumer Affairs on potential new regulations for the sector.
Training of Village managers will also be on the table, in line with the new NSW Rules of Conduct.
The areas being covered are listed below. The current major concern for operators is buybacks – they will be discussed in section 5.
This is a summary of Russell Kennedy’s main points here:
Leaving a retirement village
The Paper considers and seeks views on what happens when a resident leaves a village, including:
- whether the unit sale and re-leasing process adequately balances the interests of the residents and the operator;
- how reinstatement and refurbishment costs should be dealt with to ensure that an appropriate balance between the interests of the departing resident and the operator is achieved;
- whether ongoing liability for fees and charges is equitably distributed between the departing resident, the operator and the remaining residents; and
- what the arrangement should be for sharing capital gains (or losses) and to what extent this should be regulated.
You can download a copy HERE.
