Age Concern New Zealand and our Member Organisations welcomed the opportunity to
submit comments on the Review of the Retirement Villages Act 2003: options for change.
Age Concern New Zealand supports updating the legislation to protect the interests of
current and future residents and to enable retirement villages to operate under a legal
framework readily understandable to residents and operators.
We acknowledge the importance of retirement villages as a housing option for older New
Zealanders, with just over 50,000 now living in retirement villages.
Our key recommendations:
Age Concern New Zealand and Member Organisations strongly recommend that the Ministry
for Housing and Urban Development prioritises the following areas in any final decisions:
- Plain language and accessible formatting should be used in all documentation,
including disclosure statements, occupation right agreements, and code of resident’s
rights.
- Ensure all key retirement village documents are available in multiple languages
- Clarify the differences between a retirement village and aged residential care,
including the financial and other implications of transferring from an independent unit
into residential care.
- Ensure culturally responsive services and models of care are provided.
- Require all retirement villages to stop weekly and other fixed fees when a unit is
vacated.
- Require the timely repayment of the capital sum within three to six months when a
unit is vacated.
- Ensure that changes in the Act are applied to all existing occupation rights
agreements within a specified timeframe.
- Enable a percentage of affordable rental units to be available for older adults who are
unable to pay a capital sum.
- Ensure that retirement villages are required to meet the Healthy Homes standards.
- Establish a new simplified independent disputes scheme.