Retirement Village Residents Association-News Break

SUBMISSIONS TO GOVERNMENT

A Discussion Paper

Relating to the Retirement Village industry

The RVRA has produced a 'Discussion Paper' which comments on the
Retirement Village Industry in NSW.
As updated November 2010.

To view the paper and/or to downlload it as a pdf file please follow this link:

Discussion Paper

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Submission requesting clarification of a critical aspect concerning “90 Day Settling In Period“ as stated in the Retirement Villages Act 1999 (as amended) Division 2.

To view the paper and/or to downlload it as a pdf file please follow this link:

"90 Day Settling In" Submission

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The RVRA welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the development of the Retirement Village Industry in New South Wales.

The specific focus of the Association's development of the Discussion Paper is to have input on issues relevant to the more than 45,000 seniors, who have chosen to live in retirement villages in NSW, attracted by the security and sense of community that village life offers. Their number will no doubt experience fast growth as the NSW population continues to age.

The Retirement Village Residents Association seeks to have Members of the New South Wales Parliament endorse the following Policy initiatives:

Policy initiative 1:
Appoint a panel of experts to review those sections of the RV legislation whose inherent flaws and deficiencies resulted in the recent spate of applications to the Consumer Trade and Tenancy Tribunal. As part of its terms of reference this panel will also develop standard contracts for retirement villages to use when selling property or occupation rights to consumers, allowing for differences in tenure, location and facilities between villages.

Policy initiative 2:
Look into "areas of conflict between the Strata Title Management Laws and the Retirement Villages Legislation".

Policy initiative 3:
Look into the need for, and fairness or otherwise of, the financial commitments required of leaseholders in exchange for their lease in Loan/Lease and Loan/Licence type retirement villages.

Policy initiative 4:
Introduce legislation that enables residents faced with emergency needs to recover their funds speedily and with ease.

Policy initiative 5:
Act speedily and decisively to remove the ambiguity and introduce Regulation that defines clearly the concepts of "maintenance", "repair" and "replacement", as well as who bears responsibility for expenses associated with such events. The future legislation should have regard to the ownership and use of items of capital as well as the moneys paid to the operator by residents, such as Entry payments and Departure fees.

Other policy initiatives:
We have identified in the attached paper "Recommendation by the Retirement Village Residents Association to review the Retirement Villages Industry in NSW" several areas on which action is needed.