Victorian Consolidated Legislation

Retirement Villages Act 1986 - SECT 3

Definitions

3. Definitions



(1) In this Act-

annual meeting means-

   (a)  in respect of a retirement village where there is no owners
        corporation, an annual meeting convened under section 33; and

   (b)  in respect of a retirement village where there is an owners
        corporation, the annual meeting of the owners corporation;

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by-laws means provisions relating to the control management administration use
and enjoyment of retirement village land or of the provision of services to
residents which apply to a resident-

   (a)  because they are included in or applied by a contract made between the
        resident and the owner or between the resident and the manager; or

   (b)  because the resident is a member of an association formed in connexion
        with a retirement village;

charge means the charge created under Part 5; close associate, in relation to
a manager of a retirement village, means-

   (a)  if the manager is a natural person-

   (i)  the spouse, domestic partner, parent, child or sibling of the manager;
        or

   (ii) the parent, child or sibling of the spouse or domestic partner of the
        manager; or

   (iii) a body corporate of which the manager (or the manager's spouse,
        domestic partner, parent, child or sibling, or the parent, child or
        sibling of the spouse or domestic partner of the manager) is a
        director or secretary; and

   (b)  if the manager is a body corporate-

   (i)  a director or secretary of the body corporate or of a related body
        corporate (within the meaning of the Corporations Act); or

   (ii) the spouse, domestic partner, parent, child or sibling of such a
        director or secretary; or

   (iii) the parent, child or sibling of the spouse or domestic partner of
        such a director or secretary; or

   (iv) a related body corporate; and

   (c)  in either case, an agent or employee of the manager;

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committee means-

   (a)  in relation to a retirement village in respect of which there is an
        owners corporation, the owners corporation; and

   (b)  in relation to a retirement village where there is no owners
        corporation, the residents committee;

contract includes a lease or other agreement relating to an interest in land;

Director means the Director within the meaning of the Fair Trading Act 1999;

disclosure statement, in relation to a retirement village, means a statement,
in the prescribed form, setting out-

   (a)  the day on which the retirement village notice for the retirement
        village was lodged with the Registrar of Titles under Part 2; and

   (b)  particulars of any mortgage, charge or other encumbrances over the
        retirement village land that take priority to the rights of residents
        of the retirement village under this Act; and

   (c)  particulars of any agreement entered into in relation to the
        retirement village land relating to the priority of residence rights
        over earlier encumbrances over the land; and

   (d)  the day on which notification of the charge created by Part 5 over the
        retirement village land was given to the Registrar of Titles; and

   (e)  any other prescribed matters; domestic partner of a person means-

   (a)  a person who is in a registered relationship with the person; or

   (b)  an adult person to whom the person is not married but with whom the
        person is in a relationship as a couple where one or each of them
        provides personal or financial commitment and support of a domestic
        nature for the material benefit of the other, irrespective of their
        genders and whether or not they are living under the same roof, but
        does not include a person who provides domestic support and personal
        care to the person-

   (i)  for fee or reward; or

   (ii) on behalf of another person or an organisation (including a government
        or government agency, a body corporate or a charitable or benevolent
        organisation);

exempt organization means an exempt organization under Part 1;

exempt retirement village means a retirement village which is an exempt
retirement village or is included in a class of exempt retirement villages
under Part 1;

in-going contribution means the payment made-

   (a)  by way of donation because of an understanding between a person and an
        owner or manager to the effect that, on the making of the donation,
        the person will be entitled to become a resident of the village; or

   (b)  in consideration of acquiring shares in a company, if those shares
        confer on the holder the right to become a resident of a retirement
        village; or

   (c)  in consideration of the right to become a resident- whether paid by or
        on behalf of the person who wishes to become a resident and whether in
        a lump sum or by instalments but does not include rent; legal
        practitioner means an Australian legal practitioner within the meaning
        of the Legal Profession Act 2004;

maintenance charge means a recurring charge payable by a resident for the
provision of goods or services by a manager;

management complaint means any complaint that a resident has against the
manager of a retirement village about-

   (a)  the control, management or administration of the retirement village by
        the manager; or

   (b)  any action or failure to act by the manager that affects residents'
        use or enjoyment of the retirement village land; or

   (c)  the provision of services or a failure to provide services by the
        manager to residents of the retirement village;

manager means-

   (a)  a person who manages a retirement village; and

   (b)  if there is no such person, the owner of retirement village land;

management contract means a contract between a resident and a manager which
relates to the provision of services by the manager to the resident; non-owner
resident, in relation to a retirement village, means a person who is a
resident of the village, who does not own the land the person occupies as a
private residence in the village, and premises, in relation to any such
resident, means the land so occupied by that resident;

owner-

   (a)  in relation to land in an identified folio under the
        Transfer of Land Act 1958 or land not under the operation of the
        Transfer of Land Act 1958, means a person who alone or with others is
        the owner of an estate in fee simple, whether the person is the
        beneficial owner or holds the land on trust or subject to an equity of
        redemption or other similar right; and

   (b)  in relation to land under the operation of the
        Transfer of Land Act 1958 (other than land in an identified folio
        under that Act), means a person who alone or with others is registered
        as the proprietor of an estate in fee simple; owner resident, in
        relation to a retirement village, means a resident of the village who
        owns the land that the resident occupies as a private residence in the
        village, and premises, in relation to any such resident, means the
        land so owned and occupied by that resident; owners corporation has
        the same meaning as in the Owners Corporations Act 2006;



personal services, in relation to services provided by a manager of a
retirement village, means those services provided by the manager that a
resident of the village may choose to use but which it is not necessary that
the manager provide for the purposes of the maintenance of the village;

prescribed amount means-

   (a)  $10 000; or

   (b)  if a greater amount is prescribed for the purposes of this definition
        that greater amount;

prescribed period means-

   (a)  in respect of a retirement village where there is no owners
        corporation, the period of 12 months ending 3 months before the date
        on which the annual meeting is to be held; and

   (b)  in respect of a retirement village where there is an owners
        corporation, the period to which the accounts presented to the annual
        meeting are required to relate;

refundable in-going contribution means so much of an in-going contribution as
is under a residence contract or this Act-

   (a)  refundable to the resident if the resident leaves the retirement
        village; or

   (b)  payable to the resident's estate if the resident dies; register means
        the register kept and maintained by the Director under section 38J;

related body corporate has the same meaning as in the Corporations Act;



residence contract means a contract between an owner and a resident which
creates or gives rise to a residence right;

residence documents means any of the following-

   (a)  a residence contract;

   (b)  a management contract;

   (c)  a document under which a resident agrees to observe the by-laws,
        promises to pay an in-going contribution or a recurring charge for the
        provision of goods or services by a manager;

   (d)  a document which is a prescribed document or contains prescribed
        information;

   (e)  a disclosure statement completed and signed by the owner;

   (f)  a list, in the prescribed form, of important information that a person
        should consider before deciding to become a resident in a retirement
        village;

   (g)  the by-laws;

   (h)  any other document that is prescribed for the purposes of this
        definition;

residence right means a right of a resident to use residential hostel or
hospital accommodation or other services provided for a retirement village
(not being a service provided in a residential care facility) which is created
or arises by or under a contract whether the right is expressed as an interest
in land or a licence or arises because the resident becomes the holder of
shares in a company which provides accommodation or services for a retirement
village; resident means a retired person who lives or proposes to live in a
retirement village and-

   (a)  in Part 5 (other than section 32) and in section 34 includes-

   (i)  a person who was a resident of, but has left, a retirement village;
        and

   (ii) if a person, who while a resident of a retirement village, has died,
        the person's legal personal representative; and

   (b)  in section 32 and section 39 includes a person to whom paragraph (a)
        applies, if that person's entitlements under a residence contract have
        not yet been paid; resident dispute means a dispute between residents
        in a retirement village about any action or failure to act by
        residents in the retirement village that affects-

   (a)  the use and enjoyment of the retirement village land by other
        residents in the retirement village; or

   (b)  the use of services by other residents in the retirement village,
        being services provided to residents in the retirement village by the
        manager; residential care facility means any premises-

   (a)  in which-

   (i)  a residential care service; or

   (ii) a multi purpose service- within the meaning of the Aged Care Act 1997
        of the Commonwealth, is operated by an approved provider within the
        meaning of that Act; and

   (b)  in respect of which an allocation of residential care places or
        flexible care places is in effect under Division 15 of that Act;

residents committee means a residents committee formed under Part 6;

retired person means-

   (a)  a person who has attained the age of 55 or has retired from full time
        employment; and

   (b)  the spouse or domestic partner of such a person; and

   (c)  if the person mentioned in paragraph (a) has died, the person who was
        the spouse or domestic partner of that deceased person;



retirement village means a community-

   (a)  the majority of which is retired persons who are provided with
        accommodation and services other than services that are provided in a
        residential care facility; and

   (b)  at least one of whom, before or upon becoming a member of the
        community, pays or is required to pay an in-going contribution;

retirement village land means land used or to be used for the purposes of a
retirement village, other than any part of any such land on which a
residential care facility is situated; retirement village notice means a
notice lodged with the Registrar of Titles under section 9(1);

services means any of the following-

   (a)  management and administrative services;

   (b)  gardening, repair and maintenance services;

   (c)  hospital, nursing or medical services including accommodation;

   (d)  shops and other services for the provision of goods to residents;

   (e)  hostel accommodation;

   (f)  laundry services;

   (g)  the provision of meals;

   (h)  services or facilities for the recreation or entertainment of
        residents;

   (i)  other services for the care or benefit of residents;

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special resolution means a resolution which-

   (a)  is passed at a meeting of which at least 21 days written notice
        specifying the intention to propose the resolution as a special
        resolution has been given to all residents; and

   (b)  is passed at a meeting held in accordance with paragraph (a) by a
        majority of not less than three quarters of the residents living at
        the retirement village and voting at that meeting;

spouse of a person means a person to whom the person is married;

Tribunal means the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal established
under the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 1998.





(2) If-

   (a)  under Part 6 a resident may vote at an annual meeting; and

   (b)  that resident and another resident or other residents are jointly
        entitled (whether as joint tenants or tenants in common) to share
        accommodation at a retirement village-

the right to vote conferred by that Part may be exercised by one only of those
residents and, if those residents disagree as to which of them is to exercise
the right to vote, the resident whose name appears first on the residence
contract conferring the joint residence right may exercise the right to vote.

(3) For the purposes of the definition of domestic partner in subsection (1)-

   (a)  registered relationship has the same meaning as in the
        Relationships Act 2008; and

   (b)  in determining whether persons who are not in a registered
        relationship are domestic partners of each other, all the
        circumstances of their relationship are to be taken into account,
        including any one or more of the matters referred to in section 35(2)
        of the Relationships Act 2008 as may be relevant in a particular case;
        and

   (c)  a person is not a domestic partner of another person only because they
        are co-tenants.