Allan Govt’s retirement village laws risk ‘real harm’ for older Victorians – realestate.com.au

The Victorian Government has been criticized for its “failed” implementation of the state’s biggest reform of the state’s retirement villages in decades, which aims to make life fairer in retirement.

The government today released long-awaited details of the reform rules.

Key changes to the Retirement Villages Act include mandatory condition reports to be completed before residents move in, a seven-day cooling-off period for contracts, a ban on undisclosed fees and charges, and requirements that residents’ shares of capital gains be the same as those for capital losses and simpler contracts.

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Industry groups fear the 200-page bill released today, which will require changes to contracts for people entering villages, will risk “real harm” to future residents as operators try to achieve an “unrealistic” 39-day turnaround.

It continues a war of words between Consumer Affairs Minister Nick Staikos and the country’s largest retirement village industry group, the Retirement Living Council – which yesterday said many of the reforms were “catching up on where most of the market has already gone”, but warned there was not enough time for implementation in contracts.

A draft of the late-stage reform rules released by Consumer Affair also promised to clarify what operators and residents are responsible for maintenance and replacement, the definitions of wear and tear, as well as emergency planning and safety inspection requirements.

The Allan government’s reforms to the Retirement Village Act have been supported, but the timeline for implementing them is under pressure. Photo: NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

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Retirement villages will also be required to use a standard contract, while operators will not be allowed to place restrictions on keeping pets in homes.

Residents also no longer have to ask permission to install screens or curtains on windows, picture hooks, shelves and security systems that do not disrupt the privacy of other residents.

The reforms will affect 513 retirement villages in the state, currently home to around 36,000 residents, but that does not include land-rental retirement communities – and falls under the Residential Tenancies Act.

Consumer Affairs Minister Nick Staikos said it was the most significant reform to the Retirement Villages Act in decades.

“We have worked closely with the industry to provide protections that will make life easier, fairer and more affordable for residents,” Staikos said.

“Victorians in retirement villages now have peace of mind that their contracts are fair and transparent and can focus on enjoying their retirement.”

Daniel Gannon, executive director of RLC, said that while the industry supported the intent of the reforms, they were not happy that the rulebook had arrived at the last minute.

Daniel Gannon, executive director of the Retirement Living Council, believes the time left to implement the changes is too short. Photo: Jeremy Piper.

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“Given this unrealistically short timeframe, this failed reform process risks causing real harm, including the displacement of older Victorians,” Mr Gannon said.

“Greater transparency, clarity and certainty are absolutely the right objectives for residents, investors and operators alike, but reforms of this magnitude must be well planned and expertly implemented – and not implemented under extreme time pressure.”

He added that they would now review the regulations in detail in a bid to ensure that future retired villagers are not faced with any uncertainty – noting that in most cases legislation is “simply playing catch-up where most of the market has already moved”.

“For many operators, the changes themselves won’t be the problem; the problem is the implementation timeframe,” he said.

“Imposing a 38 working day implementation deadline for reforms of this complexity is not reasonable. It prioritizes speed over clarity, increasing the risk of confusion for residents and avoidable mistakes across the sector.

“The RLC will not defend poor practice or operators who fail to meet their obligations to residents. We support greater clarity, certainty and transparency for residents, operators and investors – those objectives are right.”

Victorian Consumer Affairs Minister Nick Staikos says he refuses to bow to “powerful interests” in pushing through reforms. Photo: NewsWire / Diego Fedele.

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Last week, Mr Gannon gave a speech slamming the government over delays in providing details of the reforms at the RLC’s Outlook event.

Mr Staikos had already spoken at the same event, without clarifying when details of the reforms would be released, and took a dim view of the industry group’s response speech shortly afterwards.

A subsequent social media post said he believed Victorians had been treated “very, very poorly” by retirement village operators and that he would not bow to “strong interests” in granting a requested extension to the May 1 start date.

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