Retirement Villages Act 2012

The operator of a retirement village must not allow a prospective resident of the village to occupy residential premises in the village before the prospective resident enters into at least 1 of the following contracts (a relevant contract) with the operator in writing:

a residence contract;

a service contract.

A residence contract, a service contract and any other village contract may be contained in a single document.

An offence against subsection (1) is a strict liability offence.

However, a prospective resident may occupy residential premises in the village without entering into a relevant contract if—

the prospective resident occupies the premises with a person who has entered into a relevant contract with the operator; or

the prospective resident and the operator enter into a residential tenancy agreement to which this Act does not apply in relation to the premises.

If the operator contravenes subsection (1), then (despite part 10 (Matters relating to vacation of premises))—

the former occupant (if any) of the residential premises has no liability to pay any recurrent charges or departure fees relating to the premises in relation to any period after the day when the prospective resident occupies the premises; and

the operator must, not later than 1 month after that day, pay—

any refund of the former occupant’s ingoing contribution; and

any other amount that is required, under a village contract, to be paid to the former occupant.

If a refund, in whole or in part, is not paid to a former occupant within the period required by subsection (4) (b)—

the former occupant may apply to the ACAT for an order directing the operator to pay the refund; and

interest is payable, at the prescribed rate, on and from the date that payment of the refund becomes overdue.