Review requested for retirement law
Retirement Village Residents Association’s Brian Peat speaking at Summerset Blenheim. Photo: William Woodworth.
A tour speaking out against financial and social mismanagement for retirement village residents saw an interested and engaged crowd last week.
Retirement Village Residents Association’s Brian Peat has been touring the country campaigning for retiree’s to push for a review of the Retirement Village Act 2023 which he believes falls “far short of fair” for retirement village residents.
Brian stopped to speak at Bethsaida, Redwood, Springlands and Summerset Blenheim about the RVA, campaign for its review, and show membership benefits in a wider tour of the Top of the South Island.
“Some of these big six operators have the fact they have “$2.5 billion in interest-free capital” which is resident money but also say it would be “catastrophic” to their business model to change and meet the same requirements of other landlords”.
“We’re asking to put some of the money aside out of service for their customers to get their money back quick and efficiently, guaranteeing a four-month timeframe which to repay which most do already anyway.
“Villages will make residents pay fees all the way until the residence is filled after they leave, something no other housing market has, Brian says that with tens of thousands of Kiwis in retirement villages across the country, their collective voices are powerful enough to advocate for national benchmarks of financial responsibility, especially when many times funds are required for other deposits.
“New South Wales implemented similar recommendations to the current Private Members Bill that Ingrid Leary is championing in New Zealand 26 years ago with a six month time period, and they’ve had no failures to pay in that whole time period.
“We’ve had a disappointing response from the Coalition Government, receiving our petition and hearing little as a result, which is why we’re asking the thousands of retirees to directly voice their concerns with elections next year. There’s no other investment market where you would spend, charging for capital loss and no refunds with capital gain and no legally required time to pay back the ORA loan – no business would lend money with this deal, so why should our retirees?”