Most complaints were about other residents. Photo / file
Retirement village residents lodged 271 complaints in the latest six months, objecting to everything from the behaviour of those around them to problems over money.
The Crown agency monitoring the multi-billion dollar sector doesn't get copies of every resident's grievance but it does know what irks some of the 40,000-plus people who live in the master-planned communities.
Retirement villages report the nature and number of complaints to Te Ara Ahunga Ora The Retirement Commission half-yearly.
Neighbours' behaviour, poor services in their villages, bad management and staff, and inadequate maintenance and building repairs of their homes and facilities are just some of the problems that prompted residents, often aged 75-plus, to put their concerns to the management.
Money was another issue. Fees, charges, health and safety, financial statements and lack of consultation between management and residents were other issues reported to the commission in its six-monthly complaints survey.
That commission has a statutory obligation to monitor villages and document complaints and disputes that village management gets.
That showed that in the latest period 130 villages nationally received 271 complaints in the latest time period from last October 1 to March 31 this year.
Around 68 per cent of the 271 complaints were resolved but 9 per cent were only partially resolved and closed.
Most complaints or 17 per cent were about fellow residents' behaviour, followed by 15 per cent complaining about service quality, 14 per cent complaining about service levels and 10 per cent lodging complaints about management and/or staff or personnel involved in running their villages.
Out of 447 villages which report to the commission half-yearly, 317 said they got no complaints.
In the previous six months, the main complaints were about a lack of service quality, resident behaviour, management and staff personnel.
Information requests, consultation, policy changes, refurbishment of units and fair wear and tear were other issues complained about along with residents' rights being breached and termination of occupational rights agreements.
The commission said one complaint was from a resident who found fees statements hard to understand: "Resident requested annual statements be sent automatically without requesting them. Many meetings with resident. Referred to statutory supervisor who recommended a way forward. Proceeded with this recommendation and now awaiting the resident's sign-off to agree this matter has been resolved."
Another complaint was about safety and security and poor lighting at the front of the house. That was resolved with the installation of a new external light with sensor activation. The complaint was resolved.
Consumer last month highlighted problems with the Retirement Villages Act by publishing the case of 'Mary' who 10 months after leaving Tauranga's Woodlands retirement village is yet to be repaid around $730,000 she is owed by management. She is still being charged weekly fees, although she has not lived there for nearly a year. Consumer did not name Woodlands as the village and did not name the resident either, only calling her Mary.
Woodlands said in response to a Herald inquiry that it had one unit vacant for resale and agreed it was stressful for any exiting resident to be delayed. Four conditional contracts fell through and the weekly fee was halved after six months.
The non-resident owner complained how under her occupation rights agreement, she was still paying just under $100/week for a place she hasn't lived in all that time.
No time period binds retirement villages on when they must return money to departing residents, whether they leave via dying or shifting out of villages while still alive. Weekly fees are usually halved after six months of non-occupation.
But residents can't sell units and nor can licensed real estate agents: it's up to villages to sell units and they can have an interest conflict if they are developing and marketing new units for sale in competition with those being resold for which they already hold funds.
Every operator must have a written complaint policy that complies with the code of practice. The policy must be available in common areas for residents or intending residents to access or view at any time and be available on the retirement village's intranet or website.
An operator must offer to give a copy of the complaint policy to a resident who advises if they wish to make a formal complaint and to an intending resident or resident at any other time on request.
An operator must respond to any complaint and try to resolve it within 20 working days. If it is not resolved, it can be referred to the statutory supervisor and then a mediator. If the complaint still remains unresolved a resident may file a dispute notice to have the matter heard before a dispute panel.
A resident may always choose to file a dispute notice if a formal complaint remains unresolved after 20 working days of filing the formal complaint.
The Herald has previously reported complaints about no capital gain, a substantial power imbalance between residents and owner/operators, lack of a timeframe on when occupation rights have to be bought back after someone dies or leaves, lack of transparency on fees and issues transferring from independent living to rest homes and hospitals.
Consumer NZ last year lodged a complaint with the Commerce Commission, about what it said were "misleading" retirement village claims.
Jon Duffy, Consumer NZ chief executive, said a major selling point for many retirement villages was the rest home facilities they provide if a resident can no longer live independently.
Advertising and marketing create an impression that care was guaranteed, he said.
That's not the case because it's district health boards - not retirement village owner/operators - who often decide if someone can go into a hospital in a village, he said.
But Graham Wilkinson, president of lobby group the Retirement Villages Association, says most people it surveys are happy.
"I am continually approached by residents highly annoyed by these types of stories as they know they are far from reality and that it suggests that they made a silly or bad choice. They find it demeaning," said Wilkinson who is the sole owner of the national Generus Group chain with villages in Auckland, Tauranga and Christchurch.
On August 31, the association approved trial changes to best practice guidelines.
That would include amending occupation rights agreements to eliminate any perceived unfair clauses including saying who does repairs and maintenance of operator-owned chattels.
Other changes are planned too.
The Retirement Village Residents Association wants the Government to overhaul the act and code of practice but says a full policy review of the legislative framework may take three to five years to complete, contributing to "prolonged unfairness for a wide range of vulnerable consumers".
The next data on complaints to be issued by the commission is due out later next month. That will cover the April 1-September 30 period.
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