Retirement Living reform wrap

A fast-track roundtable process between retirement living operators, regulators and residents has wrapped up recently, with ongoing work focused on resolving barriers to retirement village investment in WA.

Following Property Council advocacy at the State Recovery Advisory Group, Consumer Protection established a fast-track roundtable process to handle challenges that were delaying investment decisions and village developments in WA.

The two key topics covered by the process included exit entitlements and how planning rules could be changed to enable greater flexibility of retirement village land use. This would enable new village development and existing village redevelopments, providing added confidence to the sector and economic stimulus through the form of construction and activity in the housing space.

A recent Property Council breakfast was told by Consumer Protection staff that mandatory exit entitlements were under consideration by the process, with industry and resident representatives continuing to understand how those proposals may look.

Operator representatives have advised the Property Council that the roundtable process has concluded. The Property Council is working with Consumer Protection to look at the details of the proposals and how they can proceed through the legislative process by the intended deadlines.

It is anticipated that remaining reform items not covered by the roundtable process will be canvassed in a capture all discussion paper in the first half of 2021.

Retirement village operators can keep up-to-date with any developments in the new year by reaching out to our WA Advocacy Team.