A joint investigation by ABC Investigations and 7.30 reveals the hidden costs and exploitative practices within Australia's retirement village industry, where residents are lured in with promises of a fun and safe environment but often end up financially devastated upon leaving.
They are billed as a retiree's utopia: A playground for adults that is fun, safe and can even help you live a longer, healthier, and happier life.
Some of the elderly residents or their families describe them as a financial prison, a disaster and ethically bankrupt. If she had bought a home in the same suburb, over the same period it would have more than doubled in value, according to CoreLogic.'It's heartbreaking'Some operators require the resident to pay for painting and replacement of carpets, while others require dramatic renovations.
Other costs were $3,500 for a project manager, $3,447 to prepare and paint the garage floor and $1,080 for a final clean, which was more than double what the ABC was quoted by a different cleaning company in the same area. In a statement, Living Choice says the company's contracts clearly set out what residents are charged when moving in, while living in the village and when they move out.
The company says its "disclosure documents articulate clearly the works that the residents are responsible for when they vacate the property". The aim was to send a strong message to governments about "the value of the sector, the affordability it provides in an otherwise unaffordable housing market and why its residents live healthier lives".
It's an argument that chills retired actuary Tim Kyng, who jointly built a retirement village calculator with Macquarie University to try to help people understand the true cost of living in a retirement village as well as compare different village contracts. One former retirement village resident, Ann Threlfall, lost tens of thousands of dollars after spending less than three years at a retirement village in Victoria.
"But any abuse that takes place, any dissatisfaction in retirement communities, we don't want to see." It said there were currently 2 million Australians aged over 75 and this would increase to 3.4 million by 2040. It calls for a string of taxpayer-funded benefits. It also wants "a central housing information service to better provide information on rightsizing options for older Australians", although the lobby group does not explain who should pay for this.
"It's marketed as a kind of Nirvana. You're going to meet so many new friends, you're going to have a really easy time of it, and when you leave, the price of your unit's expected to increase, so you're not going to be out of pocket. But that's just not the reality that I've seen for so many people.Last year, she moved a motion in parliament calling on the federal government to beef up consumer protections for Australians entering retirement villages.
"If an agreement looks like a financial product and behaves like a financial product it should be regulated like one," she said. She called for a parliamentary inquiry to examine the effectiveness of current regulations and said high exit fees meant some former residents could not afford a higher level of care if they needed it after moving out of a village.
Retirement Villages Elder Abuse Financial Exploitation Aged Care Consumer Protection
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