From 1 July 2019 the Retirement Villages Amendment Act 2018 amends the legislation relating to retirement villages in NSW.

The amendments provide further protections for current and prospective residents. These amendments are intended to increase transparency, improve dispute resolution, provide more certainty around costs and strengthen villages’ safety and emergency planning and procedures.

The reforms include:

• annual contract ‘check-up’ meetings;
• enhanced sharing and publication of information;
• binding Rules of Conduct for Operators of Retirement Villages with which operators must comply. These supplement the provisions in the Act and the regulations, with certain rules to commence 1 January 2020;
• provisions for mediation of disputes;
• new requirements for emergency plans, annual evacuation exercises and display of key safety information;
• new auditor appointment processes.

Yet to commence are provisions requiring village operators to prepare and maintain an asset management plan for items of capital at the village for which the operator is responsible.

See the By Lawyers Retirement Villages (NSW) publication for further details.