retirement.org.nz

"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."

The survey was undertaken as part of the Retirement Commission’s monitoring role under the Retirement Villages Act. Face to face interviews were carried out by research company ACNielsen with 173 retirement village residents and 52 retirement village operators during August and September this year.

The results show that the vast majority of residents who agreed to participate in the survey have high levels of satisfaction.

Ms Crossan commented that the results also indicate areas that need some attention for residents and operators. For operators these include increasing residents’ involvement in the running and decision-making of their village and improving complaints handling. The survey also highlighted the need for them to increase their knowledge of the Retirement Villages Act coming into force over the next year.

The survey found that many residents did not know important details of the financial and legal arrangements regarding living in their village. Many also did not know whether their village had a statutory supervisor. Village statutory supervisors will play an increasingly important watchdog role under the Act.

A repeat of the survey will be carried out after the Retirement Villages Act comes fully into force in 2008.

The ACNielsen research report is available from the retirement villages section of the Retirement Commission’s website www.retirement.org.nz, along with other information about retirement villages and the Act.

For information on:

• The implementation of the Retirement Villages Act, visit the Department of Building and Housing: www.dbh.govt.nz/retirement-villages
• Residents’ and intending residents' rights and operators' obligations to them, including a Guide to the Act, visit www.retirement.org.nz/retirement-villages
• Choosing a retirement village, visit our free, independent finance Sorted website: www.sorted.org.nz/60plus-retirement-villages

For more information on this release contact:

Robyn Cormack
Marketing & Communications Manager
Retirement Commission
Mobile: 04 494 6243 or 021 242 7936
Email: robyn.cormack@sorted.org.nz

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Retirement Commissioner releases benchmark survey of retirement villages