Protecting your interests

It achieves this by:

• Compulsory registration of each retirement village

• Appointment of a statutory supervisor to oversee the operations of each registered retirement village are lawful

• Registration of a memorial against the title to all of the retirement village land, ensuring the village cannot be wound up without consent of the residents

• Requiring the operator and a resident to enter into a detailed occupation right agreement spelling out each party's rights and obligations

• Requiring a detailed disclosure regime and mandatory independent legal advice for all intending residents before they sign an occupation right agreement agreeing to become residents

• Providing a Code of Practice establishing minimum operating standards for every village

• Providing a Code of Residents' Rights with minimum rights of every resident in a village

• Establishing an extensive two-tiered complaints and disputes resolution procedure

Intending residents must discuss four key disclosure documents with a lawyer who is experienced with current retirement village practice before signing up to become a resident. Find more information about getting legal advice here.

The key documents are:

1. Disclosure statement

2. Occupation right agreement

3. Code of Practice

4. Code of Residents' Rights

From time to time operators amend their standard occupation right agreement or disclosure statement. It is possible a new resident will have some terms in its documents different from residents who have been in the village a lot longer.

You can see the most recent amended documents for a village by searching the Retirement Villages Registry.