Renegotiating Rent Rises in Retirement Housing

Joseph lives in a small retirement village in a regional area. Although some residents have paid ingoings up to $85,000, the village largely caters to people on pensions with little or no savings. Many, including Joseph, didn’t pay any upfront fee and simply rent their units month to month. Joseph also has significant accessibility needs, and would find it almost impossible to rent a suitable property suitable in the private market.

In September, the village wrote to residents saying their monthly fees would increase by $30 a fortnight – not as severe as some rent increases we’ve seen, but fairly high considering the small, plain units and the limited incomes of the residents. And because this was a retirement village and not a residential tenancy, Centrelink workers refused to adjust Joseph and other residents’ Centrepay arrangements to cover the increase – they said they would only do so for formal Notices of Rent Increase (which are not used in retirement villages).

One of our Tenancy and Retirement Team (TART) workers contacted the village to ask that the increase be reduced to $20 a fortnight, and raise the problem with Centrelink. At first the village refused to budge, claiming their rents were well below market rates. But retirement village fees aren’t just set by the market, like private rents – because they cater to people on fixed incomes, retirement village fees can generally only increase by CPI. Eventually the village relented – not only for our client, but for all the village residents. They reissued the rent increase notices, giving everyone an extra month at the old amount, and reduced the increase from $30 a fortnight to $16. It’s not a huge difference, just $1 per day, but we still think that’s a win for renters on pensions.

Rent increases are a huge problem for many older tenants across different types of housing, and sadly there is often nothing we can do about it (except try and help someone access public or community housing). But in some cases, there are legal options to challenge an increase, or ways to negotiate a more reasonable amount. If you’ve received a rent increase you can’t afford, give us a call and we’ll see if there’s anything we can do.