GrownUps New Zealand

Playing It Safe with the Registrar of Retirement Villages

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The Retirement Villages register (www.retirementvillages.govt.nz) enables you to research a retirement village to ensure that it meets legislative requirements set out in the Retirement Villages Act 2003.

Information provided by the Registrar of Retirement Villages can be utilised to make an informed decision when deciding on the retirement village of your choice.

The Retirement Villages Act requires all retirement villages to be registered. If a village is not registered, then it should not be making offers of occupation to incoming residents.

Your first step should be to check the register to ensure that the village is registered. If the village is registered, there is a wealth of information available to be searched which can help you make a decision about whether this is the best retirement village for you.

Registered retirement villages protect residents from mortgagee sale, liquidation or receivership by placing a memorial on the title of a unit. The Registrar-General of Lands records the memorial which notifies interested parties that the resident's rights have priority over other parties; this ensures that consideration is given to the rights of residents before a secured party takes action.

Further to the protection provided by a memorial, the Act states that all retirement villages must provide intending residents with an occupational right agreement.

This agreement is a contract that provides an intending resident with the terms and conditions of their occupancy and includes provisions on topics such as the staffing of the retirement village, safety and personal security of residents as well as fi re protection and emergency management.

The Registrar of Retirement Villages holds a copy of this agreement for public view which is available for search via the retirement villages website.

Making the decision to join a registered retirement village affords residents greater protection under the Retirement Villages Act 2003. Under the Act, most retirement villages must appoint a statutory supervisor (an independent watchdog) who monitors the financial position of the retirement village, the security interests of the residents and ensures that the retirement village is adequately managed.

In the event that the statutory supervisor deems the activities of the retirement village place any of these interests at risk, then that statutory supervisor has the authority to instruct the management of the retirement village to alert residents or to introduce changes to mitigate any of the identified risks.

This ensures that your investment and welfare are protected at all times.

For more information please contact us toll free on 0800 268 269 or visit www.retirementvillages.govt.nz.

Visit the Retirement Villages Register at
www.retirementvillages.govt.nz

How do you search the Retirement Village Register? Finding out information on registered retirement villages is easy, just follow these 6 steps.

   1. Visit www.retirementvillages.govt.nz
   2. Click on Search the Retirement Villages Register
   3. Select Other Registers Search
   4. Click Continue
   5. Enter the first few letters of the retirement village's name in the second box provided and click Submit Search
   6. Click on the link provided to view information and documents registered against that retirement village