New Reporting Requirements for Retirement Village Operators in NSW

September 29, 2022
4:36 am
Aged Care

This article applies to operators of retirement villages.

Retirement Villages Amendment (Operator Obligations) Regulation 2022 (NSW)

Please be advised that the Retirement Villages Amendment (Operator Obligations) Regulation 2022 (NSW) (the Amending Regulation) will commence on 1 September 2022 and will amend the Retirement Villages Regulation 2017 (NSW).

Background

The Amending Regulation inserts new regulations that impose reporting obligations on operators of retirement villages requiring them to provide certain information and annual reports to the Department of Customer Service (the Department).

Initial provision of relevant village information

New regulation 50AA provides that a retirement village operator is to submit relevant village information to the Department in an approved form:

in the case of a retirement village already in operation on 1 September 2022 — before 30 September 2022; or
in any other case, at the time of registration of the retirement village.

Relevant village information has the same meaning as in section 197B of the Retirement Villages Act 1999 (NSW), being:

the name, address and contact details for a retirement village and its operator;
information about a Residents Committee of a retirement village;
the number of units in a retirement village;
the resident right types in a retirement village;
any enforcement or disciplinary action taken against the operator of a retirement village;
any complaints received by the Secretary about a retirement village or its operator;
information about complaints handled internally by the operator of a retirement village;
information concerning village contracts or pricing;
demographic information about residents and staff of a retirement village;
any other information about the management and operation of a retirement village.

If a retirement village operator becomes aware of a change in the information provided above, the operator must inform the Department within 21 days of that change.

A failure to comply with the above obligations can carry a penalty of up to 2,200 penalty units (currently, $242,200) for a corporation or 1,100 penalty units (currently, $121,000) in any other case.

Annual provision of relevant village information

In addition, new regulation 50AB provides that a retirement village operator must annually submit to the Department the relevant village information as at the end of the previous financial year of the retirement village. The retirement village operator must provide the information to the Department within 1 month of the end of each financial year in the approved form.

As with regulation 50AA, the retirement village operator must also provide the Secretary with the updated information within 21 days of becoming aware of a change in the village information.

A failure to comply with the above obligations can carry a penalty of up to 2,200 penalty units (currently, $242,200) for a corporation or 1,100 penalty units (currently, $121,000) in any other case.

Please click here to access the full Regulation.