18 September 2026
At present, there is no deadline
for retirement villages to pay back residents who are
leaving. The government initially announced it would
introduce a 12-month deadline, while Consumer has advocated
strongly for a deadline of three months.
“More
than 41,000 people signed our petition calling for a
three-month repayment timeframe for all residents leaving a
village,” says Consumer chief executive Jon
Duffy.
“The retirement village sector is a
multi-billion-dollar industry. The government has
effectively ignored the voice of the people in favour of big
business.
“At first glance, setting a nine-month
repayment period appears to be progress, when compared with
the initial proposal of 12 months. But this is equivalent to
putting a ribbon on a donkey and calling it a
stallion.”
Consumer is concerned that villages will
treat the nine-month repayment timeframe as a target, rather
than striving to pay exiting residents back as soon as
possible. In practice, this could result in worse outcomes
for residents than under the existing
system.
“Currently, most exiting residents are
repaid within seven to eight months, which shows the sector
can move quicker than what the government is proposing,”
Duffy says.
“Today’s announcement risks most
residents waiting for nine months. We think this
announcement will lead to more people waiting longer to get
their own money back.”
Advertisement – scroll to continue reading
Earlier this year,
Consumer’s petition was accepted by Ingrid Leary, Labour
spokesperson for seniors. At that time, Labour leader Chris
Hipkins announced that if elected, Labour would change the
law to ensure all retirement village residents would get
their money back within three months of departure, and that
the law changes would apply to all existing residents and
contracts – not just future ones.
“Labour laid
down the gauntlet, and the current government failed to pick
it up,” Duffy says. “Today’s announcement will cost
our retirement village residents, future and
present.”
