Retirement villages and aged care facilities.

• Jurisdiction: Australia
• Author: Maher, Brian
• Date: 01 January 2003

The issues involved in agreements concerning retirement villages and aged care facilities are somewhat different than the 'normal' type of conveyancing transaction with which incoming residents may have become familiar at earlier stages of their lives:

* The agreements are not standardised and tend to be fairly long and reasonably complex.

* The type of agreement varies according to whether it is in respect of a retirement village, hostel or nursing home.

* Broadly speaking, the agreements cover topics such as the 'purchase price' or other amounts paid by residents, a machinery for repayment on termination, vacation or death, the proportion or amount retained by the operator (usually based on the length of residency), whether the operator or resident's estate has carriage of the 're-sale', whether any increase in value (or a proportion of such...