The new wave of Consumer Advocacy: Victoria-based retirement village advocate Les Scobie is asking all State Governments for a range of reforms including:
- Greater fairness in ‘financial outcomes’ for village residents;
- Total revision of all retirement villages legislation;
- The appointment of an industry Ombudsman;
- An amendment to the legislated definition of a retirement village to allow for Residential Tenancies Agreements; and
- Banning the Deferred Management Fee (DMF) model where the in-going fee does not reflect a “relevant discount” to the asking price of a similar property in the community.
Mr Scobie says the DMF model is “failing” retirees and the transfer of wealth from residents to operators is now “grossly excessive” compared to the costs of residential housing.
So far he only has 34 signatures – but how many other residents agree with him?
