Retirement Housing Advice Service
Infested with Pests
Jennie was referred to our Retirement Housing Advice Service, as she had had huge crowds of ants crawling into her unit for almost 12 months and the village where she lived had consistently been unresponsive to this pest infestation. When she came to RHAS, Jennie was highly stressed and was unable to settle into her… …
Posted in: Client Stories, Retirement Housing, Retirement Villages
Out with the old, in with the new regulations
Cat’s family approached us some time ago, after she had moved to an aged care facility from a retirement village. Cat had moved to the retirement village in 2005, prior to the current regulations coming into force. At the time in which she signed the contract with the not-for-profit retirement village, the contract fell under… …
Posted in: Client Stories
Submission to the Embedded Networks Review
Across sectors, much of the legislation and policies that are meant to monitor or regulate the services provided to older people living in retirement housing options do not offer clear or adequate protections or enforcements. Given this, HAAG is in support of the Panel’s vision to provide consumers of Embedded (electricity) Networks equal protections, market… …
Posted in: Submissions
Submission to the Retirement Villages Act Review Options Paper
The options set out in this paper show a serious lack of understanding of the issues raised by residents and other stakeholder about retirement village residencies. Retirement villages are too often unfair and exploitative. The Options Paper proceeds as if the problems were only that residents mistakenly perceived villages to be unfair and exploitative, or… …
Posted in: Submissions
A Home for Life: Towards an Older Persons Housing Strategy
November 2016 A report by a coalition of nine leading community agencies, “A Home for Life: Towards an Older Person’s Housing strategy” calls on government to partner with community organisations and adopt recommendations to address the long term housing needs for older people. Download …
Aged Care Bond Rule
A HAAG submission in response to a request from Consumer Affairs Victoria to respond to a report produced by the Property Council of Australia. Download …
Posted in: Submissions
Coolah Home Base: Building on Uncertain Foundations
The Coolah ‘Home Base’ in NSW was born as a dream for independent, autonomous community living for retirees. Older Australians with modest incomes invested their life savings to convert a caravan park in regional NSW into a co-op headquarters for their ‘grey nomad’ lifestyles. Their dreams were shattered when a dispute about community management spiralled… …
Posted in: Events
Maximum prices for embedded networks and other exempt sellers Draft Decision feedback
Our clients who live in retirement housing options and receive their energy via an embedded network report concerns with exempt sellers over-charging them for their usage. Our clients often experience a digital divide in accessing adequate information, and commonly express a fear of speaking out and asserting their rights due to fear of negative consequences… …
Posted in: Submissions
Retirement Housing during coronavirus – updated factsheet
Many retirement housing residents have questions about their rights in the context of the coronavirus pandemic, so we put this factsheet together to answer some of the most common ones. …
Posted in: News Updates, Coronavirus
Courts out on COVID evictions
Sarah (not her real name) is in her early 60s and resides in a small retirement village. Sarah fell into arrears and received a notice terminating (or purporting to terminate) her residency right as of last week. When she had not vacated the property by the date set out on the notice, the village had… …
Posted in: Client Stories, Coronavirus, Retirement Housing, Retirement Villages
Coronavirus and Retirement Housing – Residents questions anwered
Many retirement village residents have questions about their rights in the context of the coronavirus pandemic, so we put this factsheet together to answer some of the most common ones. …
Posted in: News Updates, Coronavirus