How to maintain a retirement village registration

• What are our ongoing filing requirements?
• How do I change the name of a retirement village?
• How do I change the address of a retirement village?
• What do I do when a retirement village ceases to operate?
• What happens if a retirement village does not comply with the act?
• Managing complaints

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What are our ongoing filing requirements?

Every retirement village that is registered remains registered unless the Registrar suspends or cancels its registration.

Annual return

Every retirement village will be allocated an annual return filing month.  An annual return is required to be filed every year (apart from the year of registration) during the allocated month to the Registrar.

The annual return must be in the prescribed form (Form 2) and must contain the prescribed information for the prescribed period.

The annual return that is delivered for registration must be accompanied by -

1. The certificate referred to in section 16 of the Retirement Villages Act 2003.  To streamline this process the certificate is part of the annual return form (Form 2).  A copy of the retirement village’s audited financial statements (these must comply with the Financial Reporting Act 1993); and
2. If the operator is not exempt, under section 42 of the Retirement Villages Act 2003, from the requirement to appoint a statutory supervisor, a certificate signed by the statutory supervisor stating that –
   1. the operator has supplied to the supervisor a copy of the retirement village’s audited financial statements; and
   2. the information contained in the annual return, is to the best of the supervisor’s knowledge and belief accurate; and
3. The prescribed fee for filing an annual return or an application to pay that prescribed fee by arrangement.

The annual return must be dated as at a day within the month the annual return is due to be filed and the information required to be contained in the annual return must be accurate as at that date.

Note | The retirement village operator has a separate filing obligation under the Financial Reporting Act 1993 to submit financial statements.

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How do I change the name of a retirement village?

The operator of a registered retirement village, must in the prescribed form (Form 3) notify the Registrar and the statutory supervisor (if there is one) of any change in the name of the retirement village.

How do I change the address of a retirement village?

The operator of a registered retirement village, must in the prescribed form (Form 6) notify the Registrar and the statutory supervisor (if there is one) of any change in the address of the retirement village.

What do I do when a retirement village ceases to operate?

The operator of a retirement village may make a request to the Registrar in writing, on the prescribed form (Form 4) to cancel the registration of a retirement village.  If there is more than one operator of the retirement village, the request in writing must be made by all operators of the village.

No operator may request the cancellation of the registration of any retirement village unless –

1. all residents of the village have received independent legal advice about the effects of cancellation; and
2. at least 90% of those residents have consented in writing to that cancellation.

What happens if a retirement village does not comply with the act?

A retirement village’s registration can be suspended if:

• It does not comply with the Retirement Villages Act 2003, or
• Its financial statements or other registered documents are likely to be misleading or deceptive.

In these situations the village will not be able to advertise or take in new residents.

A resident may also be able to end an Occupation Rights Agreement if certain important requirements were not complied with before they signed it.  This means that the agreement is at an end and the operator must refund all capital sums paid and other payments and costs.

Residents can also make a complaint or take a dispute to a disputes panel if their rights have been breached.

The Act provides a range of penalties where the provisions of the Act are not complied with.  Fines can be up to NZ$30,000 for individuals and up to NZ$100,000 for companies and other bodies. 

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Managing complaints

The potential for disputes between residents, or between residents and the operator of a retirement village, is recognised in the Retirement Villages Act 2003 which provides for the following:

• The operator of a retirement village must have a complaints facility
• Establishment of a disputes panel.

Complaints facility

From 1 October 2006 all retirement villages must operate a complaints facility to deal with complaints by residents.  The complaints facility needs to include:

• A designated person whom residents can contact with complaints
• A procedure for dealing with complaints within 20 working days – this may operate within the village or be independent and may involve discussion, investigation, mediation and a decision process.

The operator must make and notify in writing a decision on the complaint within 20 working days of the complaint being made.  This must include:

• The reasons for the decision
• Any action the operator intends to take as a result
• A statement informing the resident of their right to give a dispute notice if they are not satisfied with the decision and 20 working days have passed since the complaint was made.

In line with the Code of Practice, operators will also have to meet certain requirements for making, acknowledging, resolving and deciding complaints.

Disputes panel

If a complaint has not been resolved within 20 working days of the complaint being made, the issue may be dealt with by a disputes panel.  The panel is made up of members chosen from a list of independent adjudicators approved by the Retirement Commissioner.

Further, more detailed information about managing disputes is available on the Retirement Commission website.