"Other Fees" in Retirement Villages
The Queensland Commercial and Consumer Tribunal has acknowledged that residents of retirement villages can receive services which are neither general services nor personal services as defined in the
Retirement Villages Act. However, operators must ensure that the fees payable by residents for these other services are disclosed in the Public Information Document for each village.
In the recent decision in the case of
Nolan v Kawana Island Retirement Village Pty Ltd, the Tribunal found that a charge for the cost of gas for a communal gas-powered hot water system used in part of the village was not a general service as it was not a service provided to all residents nor was it a personal service charge for personal services requested by individual residents. It was found to be a charge payable directly by the residents receiving that particular service, namely the residents of the discreet part of the village serviced by the communal gas-powered hot water system. The Tribunal found that it was the same type of service as telephone, electricity and pay television. In most villages, these services are paid directly by residents to the service providers and are not usually disclosed in the Public Information Document. However, the Tribunal has ruled that the liability for residents to pay for these services must be disclosed even though they aren't services provided by the operator.
All operators need to consider whether their PIDs need to be updated under section 36 of the
Retirement Villages Act in light of this decision.
Posted on 14th October 2009
