Retirement Living Council urges members to put in submissions for SA Retirement Village Act review

The Retirement Living Council (RLC) is yet to put in its submission on the SA Retirement Village Act Amendment Bill as it waits for feedback from operators on the legislation. Executive Director Daniel Gannon (pictured) said the submission would be sent to all members to put their letterhead on the submission and direct them to send it in before the deadline of 19 May.

"While this submission hasn't yet been sent to the Office of Ageing Well, it is now complete and has been distributed to South Australian operator members and the RLC board to inform their own submissions before the May 19 deadline," said Daniel.

COTA SA Chief Executive Miranda Starke has been urging older residents to have their voices heard through the Your Say website community consultation and SA Health’s Office for Ageing Well has been travelling regionally to present the draft bill.

The report reviewing the Act states “40% of online survey respondents do not think the information provided before signing a contract allows a person to make an informed decision and 29% of respondents think that it does”.

Among its 60 recommendations, the report wants stronger standards introduced including a “fitness and proprietary check” of village managers along with a Code of Conduct training requirement.

The report also says marketing of retirement villages schemes should make it clear “that the property is not what is being purchased, but rather it is a lease/licence/share to live in the property, and the property remains owned by the operator”.

SA Retirement Villages Residents Association spokesman Roger Adamson said he regularly visited different retirement villages to speak with residents but when he asked “who understood their contract when they moved in, very few put their hands up”. “When the person leaving or in many cases their children go to sell, they don’t understand the contract and they don’t understand how somebody who has paid say half a million dollars to move into a village is getting back a bit over $200,000,” Roger said.