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Maintenance charges
Note: optional services available to residents on a user-pays basis are not included in your maintenance charge.
Some villages include a component for capital maintenance in their maintenance charge, or set a separate charge for this purpose.
Owner residents will also have to pay owners corporation fees in addition to retirement village maintenance charges.
Some retirement villages combine the maintenance charge and owners corporation fee into one payment. Find more information about fees for owners corporations.
Some retirement villages offer residents a choice between independent and assisted living arrangements. The recurrent charges will be higher for an assisted living contract that includes regular extras, such as meal services.
Increasing maintenance charges
A retirement village can only increase the amount of their maintenance charge annually in accordance with increases in the consumer price index (CPI).
A bigger increase is only allowed if it is:
- approved by a special resolution passed at a meeting of residents
- due to increases in salaries or wages paid in accordance with an award, or
- due increases in rates, taxes or charges relating to retirement village land or its use imposed by law.
Changing services and facilities
The operator cannot vary the services and facilities provided at the village without the approval of residents.
Any variation, including reducing, withdrawing, adding or changing a service or facility, must be approved by special resolution at a meeting of residents. If the variation requires a maintenance charge increase or special levy, these must also be approved by special resolution.
The operator must raise a proposal for the variation of services or facilities at a meeting of residents if they receive:
- A petition from 5 residents or 10% of residents in a village that has 10 or more occupied premises, or
- A petition from residents in the majority of occupied premises in smaller villages, or
- A request by the residents committee.
A proposal can also be made at the operator’s own initiative.
Special levy
A retirement village may need more money than is collected in ongoing maintenance fees, to meet unexpected expenses such as major repairs, or to fund a new service or facility.
If this is the case, the operator can only charge a special levy if residents have not been charged one in the past 12 months and either:
- residents agree to the change through a special resolution, which requires the support of at least 75% of the residents voting at the meeting
- the levy seeks to cover costs due to Victorian or Commonwealth law or the order of a court
- the retirement village contract or its by-laws make residents responsible for the type of expenditure the special levy is intended to cover; for example, your contract states that residents will have to pay for any new facility, like a bowling green or pool.
Optional services
Optional services (sometimes called personal services) may be available to residents on an as-needs basis. They can include meals, cleaning, laundry and personal care such as assistance with bathing and dressing. They are provided on a user-pays basis. Your maintenance charge notice must state clearly that optional services are not included in the maintenance charge.
A list of optional services will also be attached to the village information statement.
Metered services and insurance costs
Residents will usually bear the cost of services that are separately metered and charged to individual premises.
These services include:
- telephone
- gas and electricity
- household contents insurance.