Retirement villages are billed as worry-free independence for Australians but many have few options once they move in
By Adele Ferguson, Ben Butler and Chris Gillett for ABC Investigations
No pets without permission, no smoking in your own home, no visitors for more than a month and no garden decorations without consent.
Mandatory medical examinations and big but hard-to-understand financial consequences.
Welcome to life inside some of Australia's retirement villages, which hawk themselves as offering residents a worry-free life of independence, low maintenance and security.
But dozens of resident contracts examined by the ABC reveal a pattern of tight control — some even demand approval for every pet except fish in a tank.
Some include a long list of costs for everything from insuring the workers who trim the hedges, to exit fees and compulsory renovations of your villa when you leave.
The contracts, which can run to 149 pages, also govern how fees that are charged when a resident leaves a village are calculated.
When they leave, residents are usually entitled to a refund of what they paid to get in — minus what is called a "deferred management fee", plus a list of other charges including the cost of renovating the property.
Some current and former residents and their families describe these fees as a financial trap.
Also published on ABC News
ABC 730 30 Sept 2024
3 Oct 24 ABC 730 The tactics retirement villages use to churn residents and maximise profits https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSbMNfxrqLs
Oct 24 ABC 730
30 Sept 2024. ABC