Retirement living regulatory wrap

Retirement living regulatory wrapThe Queensland Government has announced its intentions to reform the state’s Retirement Villages Act before the end of the year. Officials from the Department of Housing briefed the Property Council’s Queensland Retirement Living Committee on the proposed changes last week, as part of a consultation process that has stretched back to 2012. It is proposed a Bill be introduced into Parliament in August.Proposed changes would include:A minimum 21 days for residents to evaluate their contract before signing;Implementation of formal dispute resolution processes;Exit fees to be disclosed at the front of resident contracts; andIntroduction of “enforceable behaviour standards” for village operators.The Committee will be invited to comment on the Bill when it is released, and we’ll keep the industry up to date with further developments. In Victoria, the new Retirement Villages (Contractual Arrangements) Regulations 2017 go into effect on 30 July. The biggest change in the Regulations concerns the ‘Aged Care Rule’ and how outgoing residents’ aged care accommodation payments are made. The Retirement Living Council’s legal partner, Russell Kennedy Lawyers, provided a succinct overview of the changes in its latest Retirement Living Alert. As Russell Kennedy notes, “for new contracts, village owners may have to advance up to 85 per cent of a resident’s estimated refundable ingoing contribution by way of DAP (Daily Accommodation Payment) only”. A summary of the changes can be found here. In New South Wales, the Department of Fair Trading is remaking the Retirement Village Regulation 2009. The draft changes to the Regulation include matters such as requiring clearer information in annual budgets around head office expenses, the inclusion of a new ‘average resident comparison figure’ in the Disclosure Statement and the addition of new matters for which village rules can be created.The Property Council’s NSW Retirement Living Committee is coordinating the industry’s response to the proposed new Regulation. Consultation closes this Thursday, 20 July.