New South Wales Consolidated Acts

RETIREMENT VILLAGES ACT 1999 - SECT 31

31 Costs of preparation of village contracts

(1) Legal and other expenses incurred by the operator of a retirement village in connection with the preparation of a village contract are payable by the operator and the resident concerned in equal shares (except as provided by section 30).

(2) The operator must provide the resident with a copy of any account presented to the operator in respect of those expenses and the resident is not required to make any such payment until the operator has done so.

(3) The regulations may prescribe a maximum amount payable by a resident for legal and other expenses incurred by the operator in connection with the preparation of a village contract.

(4) If the regulations prescribe such a maximum amount, any difference between the resident’s share of the amount incurred by the operator and the maximum amount prescribed is payable by the operator.

(5) If a residence contract is in the form of a lease:

(a) duty (if any) payable on the lease, and

(b) the registration fee (if the lease is to be registered under the Real Property Act 1900 ),

is payable by the resident.

Note: Section 179 of the Duties Act 1997 provides (in part) that a lease instrument for a lease granted by or on behalf of a corporation, society or institution is not chargeable with duty if the purpose of the lease is to grant a retired person the right to occupy residential accommodation and the lease has not been granted for the purpose of profit by the lessor. The section further provides that duty is not chargeable on a lease instrument on so much of the cost of a residential lease as relates to premises used, or intended to be used, exclusively as a residence.

(6) This section does not apply in respect of a contract for the sale of residential premises that are subject to a community land scheme, company title scheme or strata scheme.