What Inspectors Are Finding in NSW Villages – And Why It Matters

Earlier this week , Wednesday 9 July, the DCM Institute continued their Lunch & Learn webinar series. This time with a focus on NSW, where they were joined by the Senior Inspectors from NSW Fair Trading.

There was a clear take away for those Village Professionals who attended: be ready, be compliant, and be informed.

Unannounced inspections of retirement villages continue to be on the agenda for NSW Fair Trading. While enforcement is real, the inspectors’ goal is to support and guide the sector toward best practice.

Joel Elliot, Senior Inspector, made it plain: “We don’t know necessarily how compliant an operator is until we get there and have a look… and we don’t know whether the training and experience of their staff is effective in terms of achieving compliance.”

Inspections commonly assess how well operators are meeting legislative obligations under the Retirement Villages Act. According to Fair Trading, frequent issues include:

• Missing or incomplete asset management plans
• Poorly documented or entirely absent annual management meetings
• Inadequate complaint registers or dispute handling procedures
• Outdated or missing fire safety and evacuation plans
• Lack of evidence that staff training is occurring or documented
• Poor understanding of budget requirements, particularly around capital items
• Evidence of unqualified or untrained staff responsible for compliance

As Joel noted, “You’d be surprised how many smaller operators in particular struggle with running compliant annual management meetings… [with] agenda items being completely missed.”

In some instances, Fair Trading is adopting a zero-tolerance stance. This is particularly in relation to asset management plans where operators were given ample time and notice to meet these requirements. Enforcement is now in full swing.

During a 2022 audit campaign, over 100 retirement villages were inspected, resulting in 20 fines issued for non-compliance with asset management obligations.

“The asset management plan was in place, but not all the components had been completed,” explained fellow inspector Lynn Evans. “In a lot of cases, it wasn’t in place at all.”

The inspectors were forthcoming in guidance to operators encouraging a proactive stance with ongoing education and well-maintained records. These things are essential.

Having structured policies and training records, maintaining up-to-date documents, and ensuring staff understand their responsibilities all serve to protect operators—and provide confidence to residents.

As Joel summarised, “We’re not going to take any further action with you other than just educate you about how you can be compliant… It could be a formal letter, or it could be an informal email… with hyperlinks to resources and legislation.”

Rule 34 of the NSW Rules of Conduct requires an operator to maintain training records for staff. All DCM Institute participants are provided with academic transcripts of the topics they complete, the professional development days they attend, and the webinars they participate in. This means operators large and small who have their team enrolled with DCM Institute know they have one requirement met—and can provide evidence to the fact should they be audited.