Retirement village operators required to provide information to NSW Fair Trading by 30 September 2022

On 1 September 2022, the Retirement Villages Amendment (Operators Obligations) Regulation 2022 came into force in New South Wales to enable the collection and publication of information regarding retirement villages.  Some of the information will be made generally available when completed as explained below.

The Amendments require retirement village operators to update an online portal with information that is requested by NSW Fair Trading.

The information which can be requested by Fair Trading includes (section 197B(3) of the Retirement Villages Act 1999 (NSW)):

• Contact details for the retirement village and operator
• Residents committee details
• Number of units
• Residency type
• Complaints handling processes
• Contract types and pricing
• Demographic information on residents and staff
• Management and operation details

Initial provision of information

Operators of a current operating retirement village must provide to Fair Trading information about the retirement village by 30 September 2022 using the online portal. The required information covers all of the categories of information listed above.

For new villages opening after 30 September the information must be added to the portal at the time the village is registered.

Information is to be provided for each operating retirement village.

If the information provided at 30 September 2022 later changes, the operator must update that information in the portal within 21 days of the operator becoming aware of the change.

The maximum penalty for not complying with the initial provision of information or updating the portal within the required time frame is $11,000 for body corporates and $5,500 otherwise.

Requirement to provide annual and updated information

The Amendments also require operators of retirement villages to provide certain information annually via the portal.

The information is required to be updated in the portal within one month of the end of each financial year of the relevant retirement village.

Similarly if the information provided changes, the operator must update the portal within 21 days of it becoming aware of the change.

The same penalties for the initial provision of information apply.

Publication of information

The Department of Customer Service is empowered under the Amendments to publish the relevant information on its website. Fair Trading have stated that the “NSW Government will publish some data that may be relevant to consumers. This means current and prospective residents have easier access to information as they will no longer need to go from village to village to seek the information.”

They have advised that publishing of the data will occur in 2023.

Using the portal

Fair Trading has published the following guide for operators to use the portal. This includes setting up an account, creating the village in the portal and providing the relevant information.

If you would like assistance using and updating the portal please contact our national Health, Aged Care and Retirement Village team.

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