With village regulations promise broken, Victorian operators face uncertain future

With 40 business days before the new Victorian Retirement Villages Act comes into being, the State Government has yet to publish the regulations governing the Act.

This is despite the Victorian Government stating the regulations would be published yesterday (Monday 2 March) after pressure from the Retirement Living Council.

“These are the most significant set of reforms to the sector since the Retirement Village Act was first introduced 40 years ago,” Victorian Consumer Affairs Minister Nick Staikos said last week, before adding some regulations will commence later in 2026, including the Code of Practice for operators and the standard form contract.

This means retirement village operators in Victoria face being non-compliant.

Operators have received legal advice that:

• residents entering into contracts under the current legislative regime must be issued with their contract documentation no later than 8 April 2026; and
• residence contracts must be signed by both the resident and the owner and/or manager by 30 April 2026.

Any contracts entered into on or after 1 May 2026 will be subject to the new legislative framework introduced by the Retirement Villages Amendment Act 2025 (Vic) (new RV Act) including the promised regulations.

These include:

• prescribed disclosures under the new ‘Information Statement’;
• the allocation of costs of works on resident departure;
• provisions for capital maintenance and capital replacement frameworks;
• timing and manner of payment of a resident’s exit entitlement; and
• additional administrative requirements (including annual contract checks and premises condition reporting). 

“Unfortunately, the Regulations that will contain must of the operational detail as to how the Act is to be administered, have not yet been released. The Regulations are expected to contain the prescribed form of Information Statement, template standard form contract, and condition report,” HWLE Lawyers state.

“Once released, operators will need to move quickly to finalise compliant documentation for each village or asset.”