Resources
Thinking of living in a retirement village?
CFFC has produced a booklet packed with information for intending residents, their families and existing residents of retirement villages, as well as information about rights and responsibilities under the Retirement Villages Act 2003.
Download the PDF below or order free printed copies from Sorted (sorted.org.nz/order).
Download resources
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Information sheets
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Checklists
Download these checklists to use when visiting retirement villages:
If a village offers care facilities in the event that your circumstances change, see our Pathways to Care information sheet. Ask the operator about the costs of care should you need more care in the future.
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Checklist for lawyers
From time to time, the New Zealand Law Society produces a checklist for lawyers advising intending residents.
See Lawyers Education for more information.
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Templates and forms
Dispute forms
The schedule to the Retirement Villages (Disputes Panel) Regulations 2006 on the New Zealand Legislation website provides the following forms for use during the dispute process:
Complaint reporting
Click here to access complaint reporting for retirement village operators
Comparing costs and other contractual terms
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Summary of key terms
To help people understand the main financial terms of the disclosure statement and occupation right agreement, the Retirement Village Association's member-operators have trialled the use of a 'key terms' disclosure summary during 2017.
The summary sets out some important terms intending residents should be asking an operator about when considering a retirement village, and when consulting with a lawyer.
Download an example of the 'key terms' summary template here.
The content of each term will differ from village to village.
Intending residents inspecting different retirement villages might collect each member-village's summary document to compare financial terms before deciding which village may be right for them or not.
Note: Not every village may be using a key terms summary as part of the disclosure documents provided to intending residents.
The Commission has recommended that use of the key terms summary be a mandatory requirement for membership of the Retirement Villages Association.
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Comparing costs and conditions
You can also compare entry ages, conditions, indicative costs, and fees of retirement villages on this tool provided by the Aged Advisor website. The figures used in the tool are indicative only and the Aged Advisor website asks users not to use it as a primary basis for making decisions.
Care and assistance
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The financial implications for aged care in retirement villages
There are additional cost implications if you or your spouse need home support services, or are needs-assessed for residential care while you are living in a retirement village.
We are in the process of creating short videos explaining some of the implications, including real experiences from residents and their children and will upload them here.
See our 'Care pathways for retirement village residents' flowchart explaining different types of care costs for different types of accommodation. It includes tips and links to further sources of information.
For further information about the cost of care we recommend you call:
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Seniorline, a DHB-provided service - 0800 725 463
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Work and Income Residential Subsidy Unit - 0800 999 727
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These short videos highlight some of the implications of becoming a retirement village resident.
Pathways to Care: Retirement Villages
Pathways to Care: Retirement Villages
Financial Implications: Moving to a Retirement Village
The cost of aged care facilities: Ruth Schumann
Retirement village helpline
CFFC’s retirement village helpline
0800 268 269
Hours: 8.30am to 5pm Monday to Friday