Caxton Legal Centre’s Park and Village Information Link (PAVIL) is travelling through Queensland in 2018 to educate older people about retirement living options, with a focus on informing residents about the increased legal protections provided by changes to retirement village and manufactured homes laws.
“Seniors can be particularly vulnerable to exploitative behaviour by those in charge of retirement villages and manufactured home parks, so our job to is to arm people with information that helps them stand up for themselves,” said PAVIL lawyer Brittany Smeed.
“PAVIL advocated for improvements to retirement village and manufactured homes laws in 2017 and some of those changes are now in effect, such as improved behavioral standards for operators and an 18 month buy-back provision when selling a home in a village,” said Ms Smeed.
“Unfortunately these sorts of legal protections are necessary to guard against businesses which can take advantage of older people’s often limited finances.”
Further amendments to retirement village and manufactured home parks laws are expected this year.
PAVIL’s information roadshow will visit almost 50 locations in Queensland, travelling down south to Stanthorpe, as far north as Mackay, and out west to Roma, Chinchilla and a range of other regional towns.
These free legal information sessions cover options available for prospective residents, and will also discuss the rights and obligations of residents living under a retirement village or manufactured home park contract.
If you are interested in having PAVIL present at your park or village, please telephone (07) 3214 6333.
Legal advice may be available through PAVIL for people experiencing more complex problems.