Govt to speed up Retirement Villages Act review after hurry-up by residents and operators

Friday, 7 March 2025

Residents groups hope a review of the over two-decade old Act will fix what they perceive to be a ‘power imbalace’ between residents and operators.

The Government will speed up the timeline to review the Retirement Villages Act by eight months, with a view to introducing amended legislation in July next year.

The legislation has been scheduled for introduction in early 2027, but after hearing the “collective desire for legislative and regulatory changes to be completed more quickly” associate Minister of Housing Tama Potaka sped up the process.

Potaka heard the pleas for a swifter process from retirement operators and residents groups at a round table discussion in January.

In a letter seen by The Post, Potaka said it was a “constructive day with genuine attempts at engagement and problem solving on the issues that are most important to retirement village residents and operators”.

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Additional resources had been allocated to review the Retirement Villages Act, the piece of legislation that is now over two decades old and governs the rights and responsibilities of owners and village operators.

He said he’d receive policy briefings over the coming months, before seeking Cabinet agreement to legislative changes in November/December this year, allowing the drafting process to commence in early 2026 and ending with an amendment Bill being introduced in July next year.

Residents groups, which have agitated for action, have expressed frustration that a review - recommended as urgent in 2022 by the retirement commissioner - had been given the “indicative timeframe” of 2027/2028 before assent into law.

The big three issues residents would like to see change are around repairs and maintenance of chattels, which have prompted a complaint to the Commerce Commission, the complaints/disputes, and the repayment of a resident’s capital after exit. Resident groups say the current relationship between operator and occupier of retirement village properties operates is heavily weighted towards operators.

Retirement Villages Association chief executive Michelle Palmer says villages are already undertaking their own reforms, ahead of any law change.

For its part, operators, represented by groups such as the Retirement Villages Association (RVA), say they have introduced meaningful reforms including re-licensing vacant units as quickly as possible, enhancing disclosure around transitioning to care, stopping weekly fees once a unit is vacated, paying interest on outstanding capital sums after nine months and clarifying chattels, repairs, and maintenance responsibilities.

“Approximately 75% of villages have already adopted many of these industry-led reforms, and our desire is to see all villages operating at these high standards” said Michelle Palmer, executive director of the RVA.

“We also acknowledge the need to improve the complaints process. With multiple existing channels, the system can be confusing. The industry is open to exploring alternative approaches if there is clear evidence they would be more effective.”

Palmer said the Government’s decision to accelerate any changes to the act provided “much-needed certainty and clarity for village operators”.

She said the RVA was committed to working to ensure that any legislative changes “balance the rights and responsibilities of both operators and residents while maintaining the sector’s viability”.