New South Wales Consolidated Acts

RETIREMENT VILLAGES ACT 1999 - SECT 20

20 Copies of certain documents to be available

(1) The operator of a retirement village must have available at the village or at a place of business in New South Wales, for inspection at all reasonable times by a prospective resident or a person acting on behalf of a prospective resident, copies of the following:

(a) a site plan for the village,

(b) plans showing the location, floor plan and significant dimensions of residential premises available in the village,

(c) the proposed annual budgets (if any) and the approved annual budgets for:

(i) each of the last 3 financial years of the village, and

(ii) the current financial year, and

(iii) the next financial year (if budgets in respect of that year are available),

(d) the accounts for the village, audited if so required under Division 6 of Part 7, for the last 3 financial years (excluding, during the first 4 months of a financial year, the immediately preceding financial year if the accounts for that year are not available),

(e) examples of all village contracts that an incoming resident may be required to enter into,

(f) the trust deed for any trust fund into which money paid by the residents is deposited,

(g) the village rules,

(h) the terms of the development consent, if any, for the village, but only if:

(i) construction of the village is not complete, or

(ii) it is a condition of the development consent that a particular service or facility be provided for the life of the village,

(i) if there is a capital works fund established for the village-statements of the balance in the fund as at the end of:

(i) each of the last 3 financial years of the village, and

(ii) the most recent quarter,

(j) if the operator is required to provide the residents with quarterly accounts-the most recent quarterly accounts of the income and expenditure of the village,

(k) such other documents relating to the village, and to retirement villages generally, as the regulations may prescribe.

Maximum penalty: 50 penalty units.

Note: Section 197 prohibits an operator of a retirement village from charging for the provision of these documents.

(2) If the village has been in operation for 3 years or less, the documents referred to in subsection (1) (c), (d) and (i) must relate to each financial year that the village has been in operation.

(3) The operator must give (or, if requested to do so, send by post) a copy of any document referred to in subsection (1) (a)-(j) to any prospective resident (or a person acting on behalf of a prospective resident) who requests it. The operator must give or send the document no later than 7 days after receiving the request.

Maximum penalty: 50 penalty units.

(4) If the operator of a retirement village:

(a) fails to have the documents referred to in subsection (1) available for inspection as required by that subsection, or

(b) fails to comply with a request under subsection (3),

a prospective resident (or a person acting on behalf of a prospective resident) who wishes to inspect the documents, or who made the request under subsection (3) (as the case may be), may apply to the Tribunal for (and the Tribunal may make) an order directing the operator to comply with the relevant requirement of this section.