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Consumer NZ has launched a petition asking that retirement village residents be repaid within three months of their retirement village agreement ending.
Chief executive Jon Duffy says village residents or their families can be left in financial dire straits when they have to wait too long to get their own money back.
“It’s not fair, and it needs to be fixed,” he says.
“Residents pay big money to live in a village. When they leave, they get their money back minus a management fee of up to 30 per cent. But the village isn’t usually under any obligation to repay that money until the unit is relicensed, so people can be left waiting years.”
At present, there are no laws that say how quickly villages must pay back residents or their estates. The government has proposed a 12-month deadline for repayment, but Consumer says this is too long to wait. The government has also said the new repayment timeframe will only apply to future residents, not the 55,000 residents already residing in villages.
“It’s crucial that the law is changed and that the change applies to all residents. Otherwise, we risk a two-tier system where current residents are disadvantaged by the status quo.”
As well as full repayment within three months, Consumer wants an interim repayment of 10 per cent or $50,000 (whichever is higher) within five working days of an agreement ending, interest on late repayments and public disclosure of repayment timeframes.
The petition is open until late May and is available at: https://campaigns.consumer.org.nz/retirement-villages
