Each Australian State and Territory and New Zealand has enacted specific legislation that regulates the operation of retirement villages. The main purpose of the legislation is to protect the interests of residents and prospective residents. This is generally achieved by:

• imposing a heavy disclosure burden on operators
• prescribing various matters that either must or must not be included in the legal documentation
• regulating some (but by no means all) financial matters
• establishing mechanisms for resolving disputes.

The legislation in each jurisdiction is different and has its own definition of what is and what is not a retirement village. This is important because a village that falls outside the definition will generally not be regulated by the legislation. The definitions generally exclude hostels and nursing homes and may exclude other facilities that are generally thought of as retirement villages, such as over 50’s manufactured home villages and rental villages for seniors. Even where the legislation does apply, it may apply differently to different legal structures and contractual arrangements.

Particular legal structures and contractual arrangements may also attract the application of other legislation, such as strata title, community title, companies and securities, manufactured home or tenancy legislation.

Other legislation may also be relevant. For example, most jurisdictions have “fair trading” legislation that regulates general trading matters, including advertising and marketing. Some jurisdictions also have:

• specific residential dispute resolution legislation that applies to retirement village disputes
• contract review legislation that allows unfair and unconscionable contracts to be modified or set aside.

The legislation and documentation can be quite complicated, so you should consider obtaining legal and financial advice from qualified professionals in appropriate circumstances.

The following links will take you to some of the relevant legislation on various online legal resource websites, but please note that you should satisfy yourself that it is current and up-to-date: