Ryman Healthcare pays compensation for delay at Devonport retirement village

Tuesday, 30 April 2019

Ryman Healthcare is compensating future residents of 17 apartments in the first apartment block at the new William Sanders Retirement Village in Devonport, Auckland, illustrated, because of a two-week wait to occupy the new apartments.

New Zealand's largest listed retirement village and residential care operator Ryman Healthcare is paying tens of thousands of dollars compensation to prospective residents of 17 new apartments in Devonport because of a two-week delay to the apartments' completion.

Ryman's corporate affairs manager David King said the residents had been due to move at the end of April into the first apartment block at the new William Sanders Retirement Village in Ngataringa Road, but that had been postponed until mid-May.

The average delay for the 17 apartments in the first apartment block at the village, under construction, was two weeks.

Ryman compensates residents if there are construction delays from time to time. Pictured is the village under construction in November 2018.

'We have apologised profusely. It's a delay which we know is stressful for them and we have done everything we can to compensate them so they are not out of pocket,' King said.

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The construction of William Sanders will take three years. It will have independent-living apartments, serviced apartments and hospital and dementia care.

Ryman had paid this type of compensation 'from time to time'.

'It's construction. We were New Zealand's largest residential house builder last year. We built more than anyone else so as with all projects some are ahead of time and some from time to time might get a delay. And every time we do we compensate. We just don't want people to be out of pocket.'

'We want to make sure whatever inconvenience it is we minimise it as much as we can. A big thing is making sure their moving costs and storage are covered so they are not left with a house that's sold and nowhere to put their gear so we do everything we can to look after them.'

King confirmed it would cost the company tens of thousands of dollars.

Ryman sold off the plans and people moved in in stages. William Sanders would have 192 independent-living units, 77 serviced apartments and 112 care, hospital and dementia beds. The village would be built in stages over three years, he said.

Ryman had just won the most trusted brand in the retirement industry for the fifth time in the Reader's Digest 2019 Most Trusted Brands awards, King said. It also won that in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2018.

The winners were chosen from a survey of 1,500 New Zealanders across 65 categories. Catalyst Marketing & Research surveyed respondents on which products they recognised and used, and which held their trust in each category.

'There's a huge amount of trust (In Ryman) and it's built over 35 years.'

Ryman had a big reputation and wanted to maintain that, he said.

Ryman has more than 11,000 residents in New Zealand and Australia. It has 20 retirement villages in the North Island and two under construction and 11 in the South Island.