Publications

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 as if more information would resolve resident concerns. This is not the case. Again and again, the options paper proposes more information rather than increased protections for residents. This is a persistent failure of the options paper, and if the government proceeds on this basis the reform process will fail current and future retirement village residents.

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Older renters are a key demographic when it comes to rental reform. People over 55 make up the fastest growing segment of the private rental market, a major and growing proportion of social housing tenants, and a key cohort for caravan and residential parks. The government has recognised the needs of older renters as a key concern of the RTA review from the Laying the Groundwork paper onwards. Existing transitional provisions specify certain rental reforms – such as minimum standards – that will only apply to new fixed term or periodic agreements entered into after July 2020. We are concerned this will tend to disproportionately disadvantage older renters.

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This joint submission with Consumer Action Law Center focuses on five key areas that have emerged as central to retirement village reform in our casework and in feedback from our members: resident rights, contractual complexity, unfair fees, management standards, and dispute resolution. The case study illustrates the ways these issues are connected and compound each other to the detriment of retirement village residents.

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This written submission is provided by Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action), Residents of Retirement Villages Victoria (RRVV), Housing for the Aged Action Group (HAAG) and COTA Victoria (COTA Vic). The need to address widespread problems in the retirement housing industry is long overdue. We welcome industry efforts to better protect and promote the rights and interests of older Australians who choose to live in retirement housing. We also generally support the
aim of the Draft Retirement Living Code of Conduct (the Code), which is to ‘improve accreditation standards and coverage, and to set and maintain high standards about the marketing, selling and operation of Retirement Communities’. However, we do not consider that the Code distributed by the Retirement Living Council (RLC) would achieve these aims or properly address resident concerns without significant amendments....

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Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action), COTA Victoria and Housing for the Aged Action Group have made a joint submission in relation to the remake of the Estate Agents (Professional Conduct) Regulations 2008 (the Regulations).
View the submission here

September 2016

This submission is a response by Housing for the Aged Action Group (HAAG) to the ‘Alternate forms of tenure’ issues paper forming a part of the review of the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA).

HAAG would like to acknowledge that the submission was compiled with contribution from our members, specifically the Independent Living Unit (ILU) working group and the Caravan and Residential Parks and Villages (CARPAV) working group, and this forms the foundation of our response...

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July 2016

This submission is a response by Housing for the Aged Action Group (HAAG) to the ‘Dispute resolution’ issues paper forming a part of the review of the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA).
HAAG would like to acknowledge that the submission was compiled with contribution from our members and that this forms the foundation of our response

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June 2016

The Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action), Council on the Ageing Victoria (COTA), Housing for the Aged Action Group (HAAG), Justice Connect (Seniors Law) (Justice Connect) and Residents of Retirement Villages Victoria (RRVV), welcome the opportunity tocontribute to the parliamentary inquiry into the retirement housing sector. 

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April 2016

This submission is a response by Housing for the Aged Action Group (HAAG) to the ‘Rents, bonds and other charges’ issues paper forming a part of the review of the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA).

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