Retirement Commissioner Diana Crossan has released the draft Code of Practice for Retirement Villages and is now seeking submissions.
Drawn up by the Retirement Villages Association, the draft code sets out minimum requirements for all retirement villages and covers staffing, residents’ safety and personal security, resident involvement, complaints processes, accounts, maintenance and what happens when people leave.
Ms Crossan said the Code of Practice, which is a key part of the Retirement Villages Act 2003, will help protect residents in the future.
"This survey provides us with useful information on retirement villages and residents that has not been gathered in such a comprehensive way before," Ms Crossan said. "It gives us a stocktake of the state of villages and levels of resident satisfaction just before the Retirement Villages Act 2003 started to come into effect."
This is a significant milestone and a great day for retirement villages – not only for New Zealanders living in retirement villages but also for those moving into a village,” Ms Crossan said.
Under the Retirement Villages Act 2003 the Retirement Commissioner is responsible for holding a consultation process on any proposed variations to the Code of Practice 2008.
The Commissioner can then make recommendations to the Minister for Building and Construction on those variations.