New retirement village laws taking effect today introduce strengthened consumer protections for both residents and operators, following legislative changes introduced by the Malinauskas Government.
The Retirement Villages (Miscellaneous) Amendment Act 2024 delivers clearer rights and responsibilities for residents and prospective residents, and provides more consistent, practical guidance for operators across the sector.
Residents will benefit from greater transparency, fairer processes and improved access to information, supported by strengthened compliance and monitoring measures designed to lift standards and ensure better outcomes across the retirement village experience.
Additional consumer protections for current retirement village residents include:
- caps on some fees, including the amount that can be deducted from a resident’s exit entitlement as a contribution towards a capital fund, and increases to recurrent charges in some circumstances
- a reduction of the maximum time for the repayment of exit fees (from 18 months to 12 months + 30 days).
Key changes include:
- Better transparency in contracts and disclosure statements for prospective residents.
- Enhanced codes of conduct for retirement village operators, staff, and residents.
- Stronger emergency planning and safety standards.
- Updated and strengthened processes for consultation with residents and dispute resolution
- Clearer guidelines for making changes to residence rules.
From 2 February, prospective residents will also benefit from the new Retirement Villages Register, which allows them to easily search for retirement villages by location and access key information about each village.
The Register provides details such as village size, contract types, and other essential features, helping older South Australians make more informed decisions when considering a move into a retirement village.
Residents, potential residents and operators can gain information and resources about the changes from Retirement villages | DHS
Quotes
Attributable to Nat Cook
We listened to residents, operators, and key stakeholders to ensure we could create a clearer and more consistent regulatory environment across the sector.
Our reforms support good practice, increase transparency and offer greater consumer protections for those living in or considering retirement villages.
The enhanced disclosure requirements will also provide estimated exit entitlements and exit fees after two years, five years and 10 years.
Our reforms strike the right balance of strengthening protections for residents while encouraging a flexible, innovative and sustainable sector.
Attributable to Daniel Gannon, Executive Director, Retirement Living Council of Australia
After four years of work, South Australia now has a modern, fit for purpose retirement village framework that reflects how people live today.
These reforms bring retirement village laws into line with what residents expect – clearer information, stronger protections and greater confidence when making significant life decisions.
This is a significant step forward for retirement living in South Australia, providing more certainty for residents while supporting a sustainable and well regulated sector.
The Retirement Living Council has worked closely with the Office for Ageing Well to strike the right balance – strengthening consumer protections while ensuring retirement villages remain great places to live and operate.
We know that residents typically have a wonderful experience living in retirement villages operated by our members, and these reforms help support that by setting clearer expectations from the very beginning.
