Page 1209 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 2 April 2019
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written agreement. The Human Rights Commission will provide a written record of the agreement to the Civil and Administrative Tribunal. The terms of the agreement are then enforceable as an order of the tribunal.
The purpose of this change is to provide more options for residents. Under the current legislation, residents may choose to raise disputes with the retirement village’s own internal dispute committee. Residents may also apply directly to ACAT for dispute resolution. The new process will complement rather than replace these options.
The bill also makes important changes to the voting arrangements in the Retirement Villages Act. Under the former code of practice, residents voted on a one vote per unit basis. The Retirement Villages Act changed this to one vote per person. During consultation the government heard different views on the voting issue, with some submissions favouring one vote per person and others suggesting a change to one vote per unit. The bill reaches what we consider to be an appropriate compromise by changing the default arrangement to one vote per unit. This is considered fairer in those villages where single people make equal financial contributions but receive a lesser voting share than a couple on the one vote per person basis. However, the bill also caters for villages in which residents prefer to have one vote per person. Village residents can restore the voting arrangement of one vote per person by passing a special resolution for any given matter.
When it comes to unit title villages, the bill streamlines the legislative framework applicable to them. As I said earlier, there are two unit title villages in the ACT. These villages are regulated by both the Retirement Villages Act and the Unit Titles (Management) Act 2011 and are subject to overlapping and duplicative requirements. For example, each requires separate committees of residents. Residents must also attend multiple meetings under each act but often consider the same issues and information. The current legislation does not allow these meetings to be combined. The bill proposes amendments that will make life easier for residents of these villages.
The executive committee of the owners corporation for a unit title retirement village will also serve as the residents committee under the Retirement Villages Act. The bill streamlines administrative and budgetary processes for unit title villages so that residents may receive and consider this information at the same time rather than in separate meetings. The bill also updates quorum requirements and requires voting in unit title villages to follow the process in the Unit Titles (Management) Act.
The bill will also reduce the cost burden of selling a unit in a unit title retirement village. Because the Civil Law (Sale of Residential Property) Act 2003 applies to the sale of these units, the seller is required to make certain reports available to the buyer, such as building reports. Residents and operators of unit title retirement villages have observed reports going stale before a buyer is found. This creates a cost burden for the seller, who may need to order multiple versions of the same report.
The bill amends the contract of sale requirements for unit title retirement villages to reduce this cost burden. It provides for sellers to prepare a full contract of sale once they have identified a buyer for their property. Time-sensitive and cost-sensitive documents, including the building and compliance inspection report, pest inspection
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