Law reform for retirement villages is underway

Your feedback is being sought on proposed reforms to the retirement village laws in Western Australia.

Over the last decade, residents and industry stakeholders have made a significant contribution to revising retirement village laws in Western Australia. 

In November 2010 a comprehensive review of retirement village laws in Western Australia was completed, resulting in the Statutory Review of Retirement Villages Legislation Final Report, November 2010 (Final Report). The Final Report details over 100 recommendations for reform.

The first stage of reform saw the implementation of recommendations focused on increasing transparency in retirement village contracts. Those reforms aimed to help consumers better understand retirement village contracts and financial arrangements. 

This current consultation process represents the second stage of reforms to the retirement village laws. 

The outstanding recommendations from the Final Report have been grouped in categories to deal with common issues and themes. New issues that have emerged since the original review have also been incorporated. A consultation paper will be released for each category allowing you and all stakeholders to comment on any issues of interest or concern.

The first paper has been released and focuses on improving consumers’ understanding of retirement villages (RVs) including:

• Consumer understanding of the RV product and price
• Key definitions in the legislation
• Advertising and promotion of the RV product

 Later stages will examine issues such as:

• payment of exit entitlements
• capital works and reserve funds
• village budgets
• application of the RV legislation
• compliance and enforcement
• multi-site villages
• village redevelopment

Stakeholder feedback will be reviewed and analysed to assess the regulatory impact of the proposed reforms. This will enable Consumer Protection to make informed recommendations via a Decision Regulatory Impact Statement (DRIS) to Government. 

This is an extremely important time for the retirement village industry with significant changes to legislation being considered. Your feedback will assist the Government in making a decision on the recommendations, so it is vital that you participate in this consultation process.