Scott Lynda: Retirement Villages Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Scott Lynda: Retirement Villages Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:612;Page:9420] 
Dr LYNDA SCOTT (National—Kaikoura) 
: 
 I am pleased to follow the Associate Minister of Justice Lianne Dalziel because I also want to congratulate the Justice and Electoral Committee and particularly the National and ACT members of that committee who made a substantial improvement to this bill. 
National members still have some concerns especially about the increased compliance costs that will be imposed on villages. We have looked at the consequences of those compliance costs. The likely compliance costs of smaller operators in particular are of concern. In my member’s bill facilities of up to six units were exempt. But in the Supplementary Order Paper that the Minister has introduced coverage has been expanded under clause 6 to include stand-alone residential care facilities and hospital care institutions providing care for older people if two or more residential units in those complexes offer occupancy in return for capital sums. This clause basically captures all the alternatives—unless someone happens to have a granny flat. All of those are included in this bill. 
We have to ask who will pay the price. Who will pay the cost of the statutory supervision of the disputes resolution process and of the regulations that come under this bill? There will be increased compliance costs. That must be recognised and it was a concern to National. National feels that this Government has put a huge number of increased compliance costs on businesses in our communities and does not take this issue seriously enough. 
But the select committee did make a lot of substantial changes. Grey Power gets representation from the small number of people who are having problems not from the 99 percent who are not having problems. Because of that it wanted to look at the buy-back provisions. The Minister mentioned that one is not buying a property especially in the case of a licence to occupy; when one moves into a village one is buying a lifestyle. There has been a lot of concern about the fact that if when somebody dies the house is not sold on ongoing costs are incurred. If the village is being developed the new units often are the ones that get sold and the unoccupied units do not. So there was a marked amount of debate about that buy-back clause. The Supplementary Order Paper makes some changes. I think a balance has been obtained. People need to realise that the situation is fine while we are in a buoyant housing market—as we are at the moment when there are people on waiting lists to get into retirement villages—but if the market turns down it will be a different issue again and people will once again be waiting to sell. 
As well the changes to clause 27 mean that someone who moves into a village can exit within 15 days. I can remember that the husband of a patient I had looked after who had died suddenly was pretty sad and depressed and he went into a village when he was still quite a young man and did not need to make that sort of lifestyle choice at that point. As he got better he wanted to be able to exit. Now there is the ability to have what is called a cooling-off period in order for people to confirm their decision to live as part of a village. Some people have called retirement villages lifestyle villages and that may be quite a good change of name because people are buying into a lifestyle. But it does not suit everybody and if someone wants to exit during that 15-day cooling-off period then clause 27 states that he or she can do that. 
The words of clause 29A(1) have been changed to include the phrase “in any substantial respect” with regard to grounds for voidance of an occupation right agreement. If someone signs up to an agreement generally that is totally legally binding. In this bill there is now a cooling-off period and otherwise to void the agreement there has to be contravention “in any substantial respect”. That change of wording means it is a little bit harder just to exit. If people decide in that cooling-off period that they do not want to live in a village even though they have signed all the forms to purchase into it then they get a refund of their capital sums only. The cost of any goods and services used is not refunded.