On 23 November 2006, the Minister for Fair Trading tabled a consultation draft bill to amend the Retirement Villages Act NSW (the Act).
The amendments implement many, but not all, of the 50 recommendations made by the Office of Fair Trading in March 2005. There are a number of amendments that do not reflect the original recommendations and, if implemented as set out in this draft, will cause concern to some operators, especially for 'non owner' villages. These concerns are addressed below.
The reforms affect all contracts and to that extent act retrospectively. What the reforms show is that legislation in this area can change over time and that operators who merely repeat the provisions of the current Act (eg. in relation to capital replacement), may find themselves contractually locked out from using the flexibility presented by these and subsequent reforms. When considering these and subsequent reforms, operators should consider the importance of preparing a contract that achieves
