Under the Retirement Villages Amendment (Operators Obligations) Regulation 2022, which commenced on 1 September 2022, the Department of Fair Trading, as the regulator for the industry, is required to collect, and is able to publish, a range of information related to retirement villages.
This new requirement, which will have ongoing responsibilities for villages, is designed as a remedy to several issues in the sector. It is hoped the collection and publication of the data will address the issue raised in the 2017 Greiner Inquiry into the NSW Retirement Villages Sector.
Create a village profile
It is based on a possible lack of transparency in the sector for people looking to move into a village and it will provide a basis for comparison for consumers. It will also providing the Department of Fair Trading critical information as the industry regulator.
In short, this broad sweep of information from each village will create a village profile to better inform the decisions consumers and arbiters make.
Pubic vision from 2023
In 2022, the data villages provide will not be able to be seen by the public, but this is planned to change in 2023 when a public interface is developed.
Register via portal
Village operators, via the online portal – for which all operators must register – are required to provide profile data on a range of categories, which may be changed from time to time and expanded. The categories include:
- Name, address and contact details for the retirement village and operator;
- Information about the Residents Committee (if any);
- Number of units;
- Residency type;
- Information about complaints handled internally by the operator;
- Village contracts or pricing;
- Demographic information about residents and staff; and
- Other management and operation details.
The Department of Fair Trading will notify villages where there is a change or expansion to the information it requires.
Retirement Villages Digital Portal
There is a guide available to support you in using the portal, which is now live and can be accessed here.
For more information, click here.
30 September deadline
The information now required must be provided before (or on) 30 September 2022 for existing villages, and in the future all villages will be required to submit this information as part of their registration.
As this information must be kept up to date, it will be important for all operators to ensure there is a system where they update the data via the portal within a month of the end of the financial year; if there is a change to any information they have provided throughout the year, this also has to be updated for the regulator.
All changes to information you have provided must be entered via the portal within 21 days, or fines apply.