Retirement village giant backs down on chattels costs after years of pressure

Friday, 12 September 2025

Metlifecare has changed its position on the chattel clauses in its contracts.

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One of the country’s biggest retirement village operators has reversed its position on one of the most unpopular clauses featured in village contracts.

Some retirement villages have occupation rights agreements (ORAs) that charge residents for the maintenance and repair of chattels, such as heat pumps, water cylinders, and kitchen appliances, in their units.

Residents have long considered the clause unfair as they do not actually own the chattels or fixtures in their units, and along with their advocates have spent many years trying to get the clauses changed.

Until recently, Metlifecare was one of the villages which included such a chattels clause in their ORAs, and residents at one of its villages, Greenwich Gardens, have been vocal in their opposition to it.

But on Wednesday the Greenwich Gardens Residents’ Association received a letter from Metlifecare chief executive Earl Gasparich which said it had reviewed how repairs, maintenance, and replacement costs were charged across all its ORAs and villages.

Metlifecare’s Earl Gasparich wrote to the Greenwich Gardens Residents’ Association about the operator’s change in position.

“As you have noted, the way that responsibility for repair and maintenance costs has been managed in the past at Metlifecare is different across ORAs entered into at different times.

“Some residents are responsible for certain costs, while others are not. We understand that this creates confusion, a sense of inequity between residents, and frustration for many.”

Following the review, the operator had updated its policy to ensure a consistent and straightforward approach from now on, he wrote.

“From 1 October 2025, Metlifecare will now cover the cost of repairs, maintenance and replacement of operator’s chattels and other items within the interior of residents’ units, including heat pumps. This change applies regardless of the wording in a resident’s ORA.

“For the avoidance of doubt, residents will still be charged for personal handyman services, such as furniture moving, or installing or repairing resident-owned equipment, fittings or fixtures.”

He believed that approach would address the residents' concerns as it removed uncertainty about who was responsible for the costs, removed confusion as it applied to all ORAs, and eased the financial burden on residents providing them with greater security and peace of mind.

RVResidents president Brian Peat welcomed Metlifecare’s change in position and said commonsense had finally prevailed.

“The situation faced by residents in villages was unacceptable and created a real sense of discrimination. It was deeply concerning to hear how some residents were treated.'

The change came after years of advocacy, starting in 2022 when a consumer complaint was filed with the Commerce Commission regarding Metlifecare. The next year, RVResidents lodged another formal complaint.

The Commerce Commission investigated problematic clauses in retirement village contracts in 2023.

This resulted in an official Commerce Commission investigation, which was conducted alongside direct engagement by residents at Greenwich Gardens.

Metlifecare made some changes to the ORAs it offered, and those signed from last June no longer included the chattels repair clause.

But it also “unfixed” the weekly fees residents would pay under the new ORAs, so the fees would rise each year with the Consumer Price Index, and the new fees were set at a level necessary to cover repairs and maintenance of chattels.

Residents living under older ORAs had fixed weekly fees that did not rise regardless of how long a resident stayed in their unit.

This led to further advocacy from the Greenwich Gardens Residents’ Association, and in February Consumer NZ and RVResidents called on the Commerce Commission to go to court to get a ruling that the clauses breach unfair contract term laws.

Peat said fortunately a satisfactory outcome had now been achieved, and the outcome served as a clear reminder to any operator still charging residents for repairs to operator-owned chattels.

“While this policy shift is a major win for Metlifecare residents, RVResidents is continuing its advocacy to ensure all retirement villages adopt fairer practices across the sector.”

The Government was giving the matter serious attention as part of the ongoing review of the Retirement Villages Act, he added

Village advocate Kerry Overington said the move was a positive step for retirement village residents, but that the work was not done.

“It’s great to see Metlifecare step up to the plate after a long process, and it will mean a lot to their thousands of residents.

“Many other operators and villages still charge unfair repair fees. Our seniors deserve better, which is why we continue pushing for broader reforms across the entire sector.”

Metlifecare is one the “big six” retirement village operators in New Zealand, along with Ryman Healthcare, Oceania, Arvida, Summerset and Bupa New Zealand.

Together, they hold a 45.7% share of the country’s retirement villages, but there are 470 villages in total and all up they house about 53,444 residents, according to JLL’s latest report on the sector.