Code of Practice

The Retirement Villages Code of Practice is a set of rules that will apply to every retirement village (unless exempted by the Registrar of Retirement Villages from any provision).

The Retirement Villages Code of Practice 2006 was approved by the responsible Minister on 25 September 2006, and came into force one year later on 25 September 2007 (unless an operator chose to be bound by it earlier). However, following an application for a judicial review initiated by the Retirement Villages Association of New Zealand Inc, the Code of Practice 2006 was declared invalid in the Wellington High Court on 19 December 2007.

The Minister for Building and Construction, in accordance with section 89(4)(b) of the Retirement Villages Act 2003, and the Retirement Commissioner, in accordance with section 91 of the Retirement Villages Act 2003, invite written submissions on a Code of Practice 2008 to be received by 15 August 2008.

Copies of the Code of Practice 2008 can be inspected at your local Citizens Advice Bureau, Community Law Centre, retirement village, and regional offices of the Department of Building and Housing.

Copies of the Code of Practice 2008 may be obtained free of charge from:

Retirement Villages
Department of Building and Housing
PO Box 10727
86 Customhouse Quay
Wellington 6011.

Freephone (0800) 836 262

Facsimile: (04) 494 0290.
Email: info@dbh.govt.nz

Download a copy of the Code of Practice 2008 [PDF 398KB, 59 pages]

Written submissions may be made to either the Department of Building and Housing or the Retirement Commission , or both. The closing date for submissions is Friday 15 August 2008.

Content of the Code

The Code of Practice sets out minimum protections for residents on the following:

Staffing of retirement villages.
Safety and personal security of residents.
Fire protection and emergency management.
Transfer of residents within a retirement village.
Meetings of residents with operator and residents’ involvement.
Complaints facility.
Accounts.
Maintenance and upgrading.
Termination of an occupation right agreement by operator or resident.
Communication with residents.

Intending residents must be given a copy of the Code of Practice before they sign an occupation right agreement. The village operator must also give a copy to any resident who asks for one.

Proposed Code of Practice

Key changes to the Code of Practice 2008 in comparison to the Code of Practice 2006 are described in the table below:

Code of Practice 2006	Code of Practice 2008
Staffing of retirement village
Only applicable to paid staff Guidance about employing staff with experience without appropriate qualifications was unclear.	Includes unpaid staff and volunteers Clarifies the circumstances under which operators can employ experienced staff without appropriate qualifications.
Safety and personal security of residents
Very few changes have been made to this section, but the revised version clarifies the safety equipment checks.
Fire protection and emergency management
Minor changes have been made to this section to improve clarity.
Transfer of residents within retirement village
Very few changes have been made to this section, but acknowledges the role of people or persons holding either Personal Care and Welfare Enduring Powers of Attorney and Property Enduring Powers of Attorney.
Meetings of residents with operator and resident involvement
References to statutory supervisor did not fully account for villages that are exempt from appointing statutory supervisor.	Wording has been clarified to account for villages who are exempt from appointing statutory supervisor.
Complaints facility
Very few changes have been made to this section with improvements to sentence construction to make the section more understandable.
Accounts
Very few changes have been made to this section, but acknowledges the role of people or persons holding either Personal Care and Welfare Enduring Powers of Attorney and Property Enduring Powers of Attorney.
Maintenance and upgrading
Very few changes have been made to this section, but the revised version clarifies that this section only applies to property owned by the retirement village operators.
Termination of an occupation right agreement
The order of this section was illogical Refurbishment less fair wear and tear could be applied by all residents, irrespective of the age of their contract Amortisation was too narrow and not general enough to reflect the range of end of contract financial agreements The setting of the purchase price in cases where the operators can buy the units was unclear.	The section has been re-ordered so that there is a logic progress Refurbishment less fair wear and tear can only be applied to contracts entered into after 25 September 2006 Amortisation has been replaced by capital charges and cross-refers to the disclosure statement The setting of the purchase price where operators can buy the units has been clarified and is less prescriptive.
Communication with residents
Very few changes have been made to this section.

For other enquiries about the Code of Practice, contact the Department of Building and Housing and to view the Regulatory Impact Statement on the Code of Practice 2008 go to www.dbh.govt.nz/consulting-index .