'Steer clear' - abandoned residents spark village warning
" "Stay well clear of retirement villages," say the families of residents and former residents at Berkeley Living, a retirement village that saw state authorities forced to intervene on Friday evening after unpaid staff walked out.
What is equally shocking is that the retirement village has been dogged with issues for years, yet the regulators have been missing in action.
Earlier this month Fairfax Media revealed that Berkeley, run by convicted criminal Stephen Snowden, stands accused of not paying more than 30 families when the units sold. In some cases they were on-sold to new residents, who didn't get paid when the units were re-sold. Snowden denies the allegations and has called the families "scumbags". He denies not paying staff.
A recent media investigation into one of the biggest operators Aveo laid bare concerning business practices including punitive fees, churning of residents, complex contracts, misleading marketing promises and questionable safety and emergency services. In the case of its Aveo Way contract, the exit fees are 35 per cent after three years, and its Freedom Aged Care contracts exit fees are 40 per cent after two years. This means if a resident pays $600,000 for a Freedom unit, then leaves or dies after two years the exit fees are $240,000.
It is why the federal government needs to stop procrastinating and launch an inquiry into the sector or adopt recommendations made back in a 2007 parliamentary inquiry and regulate the sector federally.
If there was any doubt, it should take a look at the Victorian government, which recently held a parliamentary inquiry then outlined a set of industry reforms that are a damp squib.
The Andrews government's idea of what reform looks like prompted various housing residents and advocates to issue the following scathing statement: "The pleas of residents have fallen on deaf ears, with many of the proposed reforms pushed off into the long grass of more reviews."
What was particularly flabbergasting was the decision not to create an ombudsman to help residents resolve disputes, despite the overwhelming evidence. The report said "significant further analysis and evidence are required before a position on this recommendation can be determined". "
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