Retirement village residents deliver 18 boxes of submissions demanding ‘fairer’ laws

Wednesday, 15 November 2023

The grassroots campaign for a fairer deal for retirement villages residents has delivered its demands for an end to what they see as “exploitation” of the elderly by village owners.

The Retirement Village Residents Association wheeled 18 archive boxes into the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development in Wellington on Tuesday, which is carrying out a review of the laws governing retirement villages.

Chief executive Nigel Matthews said they contained over 11,300 questionnaires filled in by people living in retirement villages, the majority of which called for sweeping changes to the laws governing villages.

Matthews said the association’s questionnaires were filled in by just over a fifth of the entire population of people living in retirement villages, meaning it was cheaper to take them to the ministry than courier them.

“The freight cost alone was in the hundreds of dollars,” he said.

However, taking the boxes in person was also intended to show government officials the scale of support for change.

“They were very surprised at the number of responses we received,” said Matthews.

At any time, around 50,000 people are living in retirement villages, having paid for “occupational right agreements” (ORAs) to live in retirement units.

When residents vacate their unit, either by leaving, or dying, they, or their estate, get back only part of their capital, minus a large deferred management fee.

However, currently, the law allows village owners to retain the capital, until they have sold new ORAs on vacated units, sometimes for months.

The association said law change was needed to require village owners to repay people’s money within 28 days of their vacating a retirement unit.

There were other critical issues for residents, supported by more than 80% of people who filled in the questionnaires.

They included preventing village owners from requiring residents to pay for fixing chattels the village owned, and stopping villages from continuing to charge ex-residents weekly fees after they have vacated a unit.

The Retirement Village Association, which represents the owners of retirement villages, said it was yet to send its submission to the ministry, or publish it, but expected to within a week.

It has opposed some of the demands of the residents, but residents’ calls for change has prompted the sector to bring in higher voluntary standards, including removing some unfair clauses from contracts.

There was nervousness at the Retirement Village Residents Association, however, as the government was changing, and National election campaign included pledges to cut government spending.

The association is hoping National deputy leader Nicola Willis would carry through on her promise that the review into retirement village law would be completed, said association president Brian Peat.

“I refer to Christopher Luxon’s comment on election night that stated he wanted to see fairness for all New Zealanders in every policy his government puts in place.

“That’s all we are asking for; fairness and protection,” Peat said.

Peat had visited 180 villages around the country to ask people to fill in questionnaires.

Peat said he, and other volunteers, were driven by a passion. “The current act is not fair. It doesn’t have the protections for the residents,” he said.

Peat said residents for change have been made by Consumer NZ, Te Ara Ahunga Ora The Retirement Commission, Community Law, Grey Power, and Rural Women.

“They are all saying the same things,” he said.