In August, HAAG and the Office of the Commissioner for Residential Tenancies co-hosted a roundtable for residential park residents. We wanted to bring residents from many different parks together to compare their experiences and see what is working and what isn’t for them, and what issues do they have in common.

The meeting combined time for open discussion with smaller group ‘deep dives’ on specific topics. About 70 residents attended to talk about problems and solutions for their homes and parks, along with advocates and supporters. Owners, managers and industry reps were asked not to attend. Just the turnout, for a four-hour long online meeting, was a huge achievement and shows how important these issues are. We also collected written feedback from members who either couldn’t come on the day, or had more comments they wanted to make.

The main topics and themes that came up through the day were:
•    Contracts are inconsistent, overcomplicated, and sometimes unfair or misleading;
•    VCAT, which is supposed to resolve disputes between residents and owners, is often inaccessible, especially when park owners can bring high-priced lawyers;
•    Exit fees are often high and are very inconsistent; owners charge very different fees, sometimes to different residents within the same park;
•    Managers are often rude or intimidating to residents;
•    Maintenance work is ignored or unnecessarily delayed;
•    Residents and their families still have to pay rent while selling their dwellings, and owners sometimes delay or deprioritize the sale of second-hand units.

A 19 page 'summary report' of issues raised is also available here

Overall, residents are concerned that the decks are stacked against them. It’s hard for them to get good legal advice, because lawyers see that there’s more money in working for the parks than against them. And the law and the people who are supposed to enforce it don’t properly protect residents against predatory owners, hostile managers and exploitative business practices.

What’s next? We will be talking to the Residential Tenancies Commissioner’s office, our members and other allies about how best to use the information collected from the roundtable to lobby the returning Andrews government for better protections and outcomes for residential park residents. If you’d like to get involved in demanding residential park reform, you can join our Retirement Accommodation Action Group; call Fiona Waters on 9654 7389, extension 2, for more information.