Second Retirement Village Calculator

The Sydney Morning Herald reports -

Estimated cost calculator introduced amid crackdown on retirement village sector.

"Prospective residents of retirement villages will be able to calculate the estimated costs of moving into a village before signing a contract, with the launch of a new online calculator by NSW Fair Trading on Tuesday.

Take this link to the online calculator - NSW Fair Trading Retirement Village Calculator

Minister for Better Regulation Matt Kean said the online calculator would allow residents to "compare village prices and ultimately ensure they're not getting ripped off by unscrupulous operators".

"It can be overwhelming to assess retirement village costs due to a wide range of fees and charges that are often incurred at different times," he said.

A compliance blitz and an inquiry into the sector, headed by Kathryn Greiner, who recently conducted an internal review of the NSW Catholic school system, has begun.

The inquiry will include a number of community forums to be held around the state, seeking feedback from the public.

Community forum sessions will be held at the following locations:

• Hornsby RSL, 4 High Street, Hornsby - Tuesday October 3, 10am-12pm


• Newcastle Exhibition Centre, 309 King St, Newcastle West - Wednesday October 4, 10am-12pm


• Wagga Wagga International Hotel, Cnr Lake Albert Rd & Sturt Hwy, Wagga - Tuesday October 10, 10am-12pm


• Wollongong Diggers Club, 82 Church Street, Wollongong - Thursday October 12 - 10am-12pm


• SMC Conference & Function Centre, 66 Goulburn Street, Sydney - Tuesday October 17 - 10am-12pm


• Ballina RSL, 1 Grant Street, Ballina - Wednesday October 18 - 10am-12pm


• Port Macquarie Golf Club, Ocean Drive, Port Macquarie - Thursday, October 19, 10am-12pm

See full article here:- http://www.smh.com.au/business/consumer-affairs/estimated-cost-calculator-introduced-amid-crackdown-on-retirement-village-sector-20170911-gyez5n.html

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Governments Push Financial Doom

Governments Push Financial Doom - Federal & State Governments are actively directing many retirees toward financial doom despite being advised of the negative financial impact on retirees of their statutory & regulatory actions in the retirement village sector.

The poor response of the Victorian Government to their own retirement living enquiry has received criticism including an observation that "Sadly the Victorian government has been seduced by the industry notion that better consumer protections are at the cost of retirement village innovation and growth."


The above was part of a summary statement on Page 28 of the LSIC report from the committee in March 2007 despite hundreds upon hundreds of retirement village residents together with consumer advocate organisations, providing evidence to the contrary in their submissions to the enquiry.

In June 2007 the ABC 4 Corners program 'Bleed Them Dry Until They Die' aired showing statements such as above to be a representation of the failure of legislators and regulators to fully understand what was and still is happening to older Australians in the retirement village sector.

Problems with the retirement village industry can be summarised into some key areas:-

1. Low operational standards of some operators.


2. Outdated legislative frameworks.


3. A failure of regulatory bodies to police and enforce breaches of law.


4. A failure to provide easy access to the law and justice for retirement village residents.


5. The continued use of the retirement village 'Deferred Management Fee' business model designed for charity organisations of decades past.

Federal & State Governments through statutory and regulatory frameworks are encouraging retirees to step into the financial mire of retirement villages. Legislators don't understand or won't acknowledge the negative financial implications for retirees of the deferred management fee model used in this industry sector. A business model designed for charity organisations of decades past not the modern, slick, profit driven, private enterprise organisations of today.

The following example shows the potential financial impact on a home owner should the home owner decide to sell the family home and downsize into a retirement village. The example uses common contractural parameters found within the industry although there can be variations.

The example shows a difference in outcomes over just 7 years of nearly $750,000.00.

The positive social outcomes of living in a retirement village are acknowledged but at what financial cost to retirees. The outcomes are financially debilitating for many retirees and yet an outcome as described above is actively encouraged and even promoted by Federal & State Governments.

It is important to note that the financial damage done in the example above is not done by bad contracts, by bad operators, by poor legislation, by slow acting regulators. The financial damage done is from just one primary thing the deferred management fee business model.

Legislators and regulators can tinker with contracts, fact sheets, dislosure statements, access to the law and while all these areas are important nothing will stop the financial damage done to retirees unless the deferred management fee business model itself is outlawed or heavily reformed.

In this new century is there really room for a consumer product that even lawyers and financial advisors cannot fully explain to their clients.Should not the retirement village industry be based simply on you either buy it or you rent it, they are two concepts everybody understands even legislators and regulators.

Governments Push Financial Doom

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Village Run by Convicted Criminal

Fairfax media reports on another shocking retirement village example:-

Residents at retirement village run by convicted criminal forced to fend for themselves.

"Jane Cartledge has spent almost a decade trying to claw back hundreds of thousands of dollars from a retirement village operator that she didn't know had a criminal past and connections to underworld figures.

The battle to get back the $270,000 she is owed from the sale of her mother's apartment at Berkeley Living in Victoria's quiet bayside suburb of Patterson Lakes, has cost her time, money and damaged a relationship with her brother.

Cartledge says she is dismayed that the village's operator has been allowed to sell apartments and not pay residents or their families.

"Cream and bastards rise to the top," she says.

Only this week the Andrews government, in Victoria, faced heavy criticism after releasing its response to a parliamentary inquiry into the sector from various consumer groups and residents as "failing to deliver" and pushing proposed reforms "into the long grass of more reviews" that would mean victims continue to fall through the cracks.

Fairfax Media can reveal that Berkeley Living, a company trading name registered to Berkeley Property Management, is operating as a respite centre under the directorship of a 25-year-old man with little prior business experience and a criminal record.

It is also linked to former aged care magnate-turned-bankrupt Stephen Snowden, who has been described as a "serial scammer" after Westpac chased him in 2013 in the Supreme Court of Victoria for $13 million of money he allegedly misappropriated.

The court found in favour of Westpac and the bank appointed a liquidator to Berkeley Living. In 2014 the bank won a court order to bankrupt him but the bank says it got little back for its efforts.

Snowden took over management of the village in 2009 when the previous operator ran into financial trouble and his business was wound up.

Snowden says residents had agreed to receive only a proportional return. He planned to improve his financial situation by developing land near the village.

Snowden says he's keen to return to managing the village.

But Colin Walker, one of the 30-plus families trying to get back their money, believes Snowden has never been far away. Walker lives close to the village and says has regularly seen him there. At one stage Snowden listed one of the units as his residential address on company documents.

Walker sold the unit after his father died in 2011. Since then he has been trying to retrieve almost $100,000 that he is owed after exit fees and other fees are deducted.

I have gone to Consumer Affairs Victoria, which is a paper tiger.
Colin Walker

"I have gone to Consumer Affairs Victoria, which is a paper tiger. I have written to my local member, the media, Westpac, Moorabin CID for fraud and nothing happened."

He says many residents and families were too old and too afraid to speak up for fear of reprisals. He says the only avenue left was legal action, but that would cost at least $250,000, which some of the families couldn't afford.

"The whole situation is a complete debacle," he says.

Cartledge says her family is owed $275,000. She says her mother would be devastated if she knew the money she worked hard for all her life hadn't gone to her children.

Like Walker and the many other families, she feels let down by a system that has let retirement village industry fall through the cracks."

Full article here :- Residents at retirement village run by convicted criminal forced to fend for themselves

Retiree Pleas Ignored

Retiree Pleas Ignored.

The Victorian Government has responded to the LSIC enquiry into Retirement Living.

The Consumer Action Law Center, Council of the Ageing, Housing for the Aged Action Group and the Residents of Retirement Villages Victoria released a combined statement.

"Response to Retirement Housing Inquiry fails to provide access to justice

After six months of waiting, the Victorian Government has responded to the Inquiry into the Retirement Housing Sector, conducted by the Victorian Legislative Council.

The Victorian Government’s response to the Parliamentary Inquiry has failed to deliver, according to retirement housing residents and advocates. Despite nearly 800 submissions to the Inquiry and recommendations that promised meaningful reform, the pleas of retirees and residents have fallen on deaf ears, with many of the proposed reforms pushed off into the long grass of more reviews.

While the Victorian Government has accepted the Inquiry’s recommendation to launch a review into the Retirement Villages Act 1986 (the Act), it has pointed to various other inquiries and reviews underway, stalling a much-needed comprehensive review of the legislation. A review of the Act has been delayed until an unspecified date.

Of serious concern is the failure to remedy the serious problems identified in providing access to justice for the thousands of older Victorians and their families who are unable to resolve disputes with their retirement housing provider.  The Government can fix this by creating an ombudsman for low cost, timely and binding resolution of disputes.

According the Victorian Government’s response, ‘significant further analysis and evidence are required before a position on this recommendation can be determined’. Given the number of submissions outlining problems with dispute resolution in this sector, along with casework experience of leading community legal centres such as Consumer Action and the significant costs involved in going to court, we are surprised that further evidence is needed by the Victorian Government before it will act.

In relation to improving management training standards, the Victorian Government has left it up to industry to sort out. The response has also failed to deliver any meaningful change to harsh exit fees which can lock people into contractual arrangements. This is wholly unacceptable.

Residents and their families will ultimately pay the price for the Victorian Government’s inaction on retirement housing reform.

Comments attributable to:

Gerard Brody, CEO Consumer Action Law Centre

• If you’re an older Victorian and want to resolve a problem with your retirement living, it should be cheap, quick and accessible. The evidence has shown that we need an ombudsman scheme for this sector.


• Recent piecemeal inquiries by the Victorian Government into the sector have failed to reduce the complexity of contracts or improve outcomes for residents. We had hoped for a strong response from the Government today that showed it cared for residents and their families. Unfortunately, we were left disappointed.

Lawrie Robertson, Vice-President Residents of Retirement Village Victoria

• There is no commitment in the Victorian Government’s response to improving the rights and protections for residents.


• Our members had hoped for quick implementation of a simple, free, binding dispute resolution service and they have been left bitterly disappointed.

Ronda Held, CEO COTA Victoria

• This is a lost opportunity for leadership in responding to the concerns of thousands of older Victorians and their families.


• The Victorian Government had overwhelming evidence of the problems in this sector, and that evidence has been ignored.

Fiona York, Co-Manager, Housing for the Aged Action Group

• None of the main concerns of residents have been adequately dealt with.


• Residents’ concerns about unfair and confusing fees, management practices and dispute resolution have been either dismissed or deferred."

Infection Control Procedures

Australian Ageing Agenda reports -

"The Minister for Aged Care has ordered an “urgent review” into the infectious disease management practices of all aged care facilities following an increase in flu-related deaths in residential aged care this winter.

Minister for Aged Care Ken Wyatt told AAA the Australian Aged Care Quality Agency would “examine the management of infectious diseases outbreak procedures, including vaccinations of staff and residents, across the aged care sector.”

Questions posed by AAA to Minister Wyatt regarding the scope and nature of the agency’s review were referred to the quality agency.

The details of how the examination will be conducted and what it will involve are currently being finalised, a spokesperson for the quality agency told AAA on Wednesday morning.

The review announcement came on Sunday when Minister for Health Greg Hunt and Minister for Aged Care Key Wyatt also announced that Australia’s chief medical officer Professor Brendan Murphy would look at ways to boost vaccination rates among residential aged care workers including making the flu vaccination compulsory.

Both investigations have been prompted by the deaths of now eight residents at St John’s Retirement Village in Wangaratta in Victoria and reports of fatalities from the flu at Strathdevon Aged Care in Tasmania.

“Older people are always vulnerable to the flu, but the many deaths this year are unacceptable,” Mr Wyatt said.

Minister Wyatt said he has also instructed the quality agency to conduct a review audit of the St John’s Wangaratta and the Strathdevon aged care facilities to assess their performance against the 44 accreditation standards, which includes infection control systems and processes.

“The quality agency has been advised that the Strathdevon home is being reopened, meaning this review audit will begin on Monday, 11 September,” Mr Wyatt said.

“The review audit of St John’s Wangaratta is also expected to start next week but this will depend on when the home is reopened,” he said.

The completed review audit reports will be provided to the secretary of the Department of Health and will be published on the quality agency’s website."

 



 

Act In Good Faith

" In the end the prospective resident signs the documents in good faith and hopes that the village owner/developer has acted in good faith also. "

Many residents in retirement villages around Australia in 2017 would relate to the statement made by Mr. Robert Boyne to the House of Representatives Standing Committee enquiry into Older People and the Law way back in 2007.

Mr. Boyne advised the committee, " In the end the prospective resident signs the documents in good faith and hopes that the village owner/developer has acted in good faith also. "

Given the recent revelations highlighted on the ABC 4 Corners program and in the Sydney Morning Herald and Age newspapers, village residents could be forgiven for feeling that this 'act in good faith' by the residents through the years 2007 to 2017 has not been matched by village owners/developers in a multitude of cases.

7 Deaths @ St. Johns Wangaratta

ABC News Reports:-

Seven elderly residents from a nursing home in Victoria's north-east have died during a flu outbreak, the state's health authorities say. The deaths occurred at St John's Retirement Village in Wangaratta, which is run by the Anglican Church.

The Department of Health and Human Services said the retirement village had 146 residents and 200 staff, with 123 people affected by flu during an outbreak over the past few weeks.

The seven residents who died were aged between 70 and 94, and had other conditions that made them particularly susceptible.

The department said it had worked with the facility to manage the outbreak and ensure strict infection control measures.

It said the outbreak was now subsiding.

Wangaratta Bishop John Parkes said the outbreak has been an "extraordinary and unusual event" unlike any they had ever experienced before.

"It has been a very difficult time," he said.

"Of course the tragedy is we've lost seven residents who are part of the St John's family and that is dreadful for them, for their families and for the staff and the organisation."

"But we mourn the loss of any resident and seven [dead] in one influenza epidemic is a tragedy for their families and for us."

Thirteen people are still sick at the home, which will be in lock-down for at least another week as long as no-one else develops flu.

Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt said as soon as the outbreak is over, the facility will be audited.

"My thoughts are with the families of those affected," he said.

"The Australian Aged Care Quality Agency will conduct an urgent review audit of the Wangaratta retirement and nursing home facility."

Victoria's acting chief health officer Dr Brett Sutton said the flu is particularly dangerous for frail people in aged care facilities.

"The deaths have occurred mostly in the last week, they were all in elderly people in their 70s [and] into their 90s, all with pre-existing conditions so they were vulnerable to significant illness," he said.

"It's a reminder that flu is really deadly."

There have been twice as many outbreaks of the flu this year than there were in 2016, with 208 respiratory outbreaks in aged care homes this year compared with 104 for the same period last year.

The health department said there had been more than 11,300 confirmed cases in Victoria in 2017, with many more notifications still expected.

"We've had aged care facilities hit particularly hard this year with a record number of outbreaks in those settings and we've had elderly people in general affected more than most years," Dr Sutton said.

"They [the elderly] are vaccinated in aged care facilities largely, including this one, but the vaccine doesn't work as well in the very elderly so it's incumbent upon those who are visiting and the staff in those facilities to try and be immunised and to exclude themselves from work if they're unwell."