Retirement Village Residents Association-Information for RV Residents

12 October 2011

"The little black book of scams"

Date published: 5th October 2011

The little black book of scams highlights a variety of popular scams that regularly target Australian consumers and small business in areas such as fake lotteries, internet shopping, mobile phones, online banking, employment and investment opportunities. It also offers consumers tips on how to protect themselves from scams, what they can do to minimise damage if they do get scammed and how they can report a scam.
Download a PDF copy (1.3MB) at www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/tag/TheLittleBlackBookOfScams08

"Australian Government Directory of Services for Older People 2011"

Date published: December 2010

The Australian Government Directory of Services for Older People has been produced as a comprehensive guide to the wide range of services provided for older people by the Australian Government.
Download a PDF copy (846KB) at http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/content/ageing-agdos-2011.htm

6 August 2011

"FREE HELP TO SAVE POWER"

The Office of Environment and Heritage, NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet, are conducting a Home Savings Program for eligible households. The program can help save up to 20% off the power and/or water bill which will help you and the environment. Eligible households must be in NSW, hold one of the following: a Centrelink Pensioner Concession Card, a Department of Veterans Affairs Pensioner Concession Card, a Department of Veterans Affairs Gold Repatriation Health Card, a Department of Veterans' Affairs White Repatriation Health Card, a Centrelink Low Income Health Care Card or be a recognised energy utility hardship customer. Contact details are: Office of Environment and Heritage, 59-61 Goulburn St, Sydney.
Telephone: 1300 662 416 to book (or 9995 5000 - switchboard);
Email: powersavings@environment.nsw.gov.au or the website: www.environment.nsw.gov.au

The free power savings kit is worth around $200-00 and includes a variety of pieces of equipment plus an assessment in your home by an energy expert.

They even have a nifty little gadget they can plug in and place against your fridge or other piece of equipment and it tells you the dollar rate to run the equipment.

28 March 2011

"BUYER BEWARE"

If you sign a contract you are bound by that contract. The following link is to a commentary on the High Court case "Toll v Alphapham" which is often quoted by Solicitors and Barristers in putting an argument that the terms of a signed contract are binding on both parties.

For a PDF file of this article, click here

The following is a short extract from the commentary:
"When a document containing contractual terms is signed, then, in the absence of fraud, or, I will add, misrepresentation, the party signing it is bound, and it is wholly immaterial whether he has read the document or not"

In justifying the "importance which, for a very long time, the common law has assigned to the act of signing", their Honours quoted P S Atiyah's observation that "The usual explanation for holding a signature to be conclusively binding is that it must be taken to show that the party signing has agreed to the contents of the document; but another possible explanation is that the other party can be treated as having relied upon the signature. It thus may be a mistake to ask, as H L A Hart once asked, whether the signature is merely conclusive evidence of agreement, or whether it is itself a criterion of agreement."

Their Honours continued,

"Legal instruments of various kinds take their efficacy from signature or execution. Such instruments are often signed by people who have not read and understood all their terms, but who are nevertheless committed to those terms by the act of signature or execution. It is that commitment which enables third parties to assume the legal efficacy of the instrument. To undermine that assumption would cause serious mischief."

28 February 2011

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY DEVICES IN RETIREMENT VILLAGES
AN OVERVIEW

For a PDF file of this article, click here

                   Solar Panels for electricity (PV Solar Panels) Purchased and Rented
                   Hot water Systems - Hot water Circulator - Dual Flush Toilets

DO YOU HAVE A CONCERN OR COMPLAINT RELATING TO SOLAR PANELS?

If so please contact:
      Office of Fair Trading on line complaint service at:
       www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/About_us/Online_services/Lodge_a_complaint.html

or

      Clare Petre, Ombudsman, Energy Water Ombudsman NSW.
      Email: E-Mail: ombo@ewon.com.au
      PO Box K1343, Haymarket NSW 1240
      Freecall 1800 246 545
      Freefax 1800 812 291