Western Australian Retirement Complexes Residents’ Association, Inc.

(ABN 315612127)

c/o COTAWA, PO Box 7896, Cloisters Square, Perth, Western Australia 6850

Telephone: 9271 2733             Web-site www.warcra.org

IMPORTANT  NOTICE

THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION

WILL BE HELD AT

THE EDUCATION CENTRE PINEY LAKES RESERVE

LEACH HIGHWAY, WINTHROP

FRIDAY 10^th February 2012 AT 10.00AM

(As you proceed towards Fremantle in Leach Highway from Kwinana Freeway, the entry to Piney Lakes reserve is on your left just past Murdoch Drive)

ELECTIONS FOR THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE AT THE AGM

A list of candidates for the election to be held at the AGM are included this newsletter. Three members of the Committee are standing down. They are Gail McMaster (secretary), Frank McCarthy and Shirley Wyburn. We thank those members for their great contribution over a number of years and wish them well in their 'retirement'. We also thank Tony Ball, a co-opted member of the committee during 2011, for his valuable contribution to WARCRA.

LEGISLATION – UPDATE

The saga continues. As mentioned previously the Bill resulting from the review of retirement village legislation is going to be delivered in two parts. Those sections which will be dealt with in the first part and have been forwarded for drafting include -

1.     limiting the time recurrent charges are paid by a resident after leaving a village

2.     giving residents the right to appeal to the SAT against excessive or unwarranted increases in recurrent charges

3.     prohibiting certain people such as bankrupts and sex offenders from operating or managing a village

4.     extended disclosure or cooling off periods

5.     enabling the SAT to make orders in relation to the completion of village amenities

6.     providing for the regulation of what can or cannot be included in retirement village contracts

7.     release of a premium from a trust account once the resident is entitled to occupy the unit

8.     extending the time frame from two years to three within which proceedings may be brought to Court for an offense under the Act.

The list includes some matters of critical importance to residents.

The first relates to recommendations 73 and 74 in the Statutory Report on ongoing charges and provides that ongoing charges after a non-owner resident leaves a village cease after a prescribed period after which they become the responsibility of the operator and are not to be devolved to other residents.

Industry has already argued strongly against these recommendations and will continue to work to have them removed.               

If you wish to maintain these recommendations and if you wish to have included a phasing in period such as three years, after which the legislation would apply to current as well as new contracts, you need to write to your local politicians, both upper and lower house, to state your case before the bill is considered in  Parliament. If you write on behalf of your village say how many people you are representing. It will need a very strong push from electors to achieve anything in regard to a phasing in period.

The second relates to recommendations 35 and 36 on recurrent charges which state that the legislation be amended to provide that where residents....believe increases in recurrent charges are excessive or unwarranted, they may,....... if agreed to by a special resolution of residents, make an application to the SAT to have their case heard.

This recommendation is another which has been discussed before. The new provision enabling certain matters to do with recurrent charges to be taken to the SAT is to be applauded but the requirement for a special resolution before this can be done, seriously restricts the usefulness of the provision.

The following are our concerns about the requirement for a special resolution:

·        To get a special resolution a general meeting must be called by management. We cannot see why residents should not be able to call their own meeting.

·        A manager has to call a meeting if asked to do so 'on the reasonable request' of the residents committee or by 5 residents or 10% of residents which ever is the greater. This would not uncommonly need 20 to 40 or more residents; in a village without a residents' committee this would not be a small task. Also, it is up to the manager to decide if the request is reasonable and in any case it permits considerable delays in responding to the request.

·        In other States residents have much greater say on their budgets than here even to the extent of accepting or rejecting a budget. Fellow members of the National Residents Association were appalled at this special resolution requirement because it prevents individuals taking their concerns to the Court.

·        One perceptive MP commented that the need to achieve a special resolution would be potentially divisive for residents. In some villages this would certainly be the case especially where there are residents who do not understand the budget (and the way the budgets are presented this is often the case) and may be very anxious not to offend their manager or have anything to do with a court case.

·        WARCRA has been told by Consumer Protection the special resolution restriction was  put in place in order to avoid overloading the SAT. It is probably also the case that they want to avoid overloading Consumer Protection. They need to be resourced to deal with cases, not shape the legislation to avoid them.

The special resolution requirement is a more concerning problem than it seems when first read particularly if the reader has no understanding of life in a village. Please contact your local Members of Parliament to make your opinion known. It does not matter if you have done it before, do it again. They need to be reminded now that the drafting is nearing completion. It needs to be changed to permit an individual or a group of residents to take a the matter to the SAT. Even the requirement for an ordinary majority decision would be far better. (One of our members pointed out that Parliament makes important decisions by ordinary majority.) So get to work and get others to help. Let our politicians know

1.     that this matter will come up soon in the first part of the RV Bill.

2.     if the legislation is to be fair and effective the special resolution requirement must be removed from the clause to do with taking excessive increases in recurrent charges to the SAT.

The January committee meeting of the Association was held at Lady Brand Village in Mandurah. Local MP David Templeman was invited and came to meet the committee. David has consistently shown interest in issues affecting the residents of retirement villages.

RVA NATIONAL CONFERENCE

Our President attended the national RVA Conference in Melbourne in November. The RVA invites one representative from each State residents' association to the Conference each year.

There does not seem to be as much to report as in previous years. The market for units has been slow and the main focus of many sessions was on sales. There was however recognition that a primary factor in achieving sales is the enthusiasm and willingness of current residents to recommend their village and refer their friends. If it is not happening  already, expect some action to secure the support of residents in the sale process.

For the first time the RVA arranged a meeting at the Conference between resident representatives and industry representatives and introduced Gail Morgan the newly appointed General Manager National Advocacy, ie their lobbyist in Canberra. It is clear they see a growing role for the Federal Government in issues relating to retirement villages.

There did not appear, any longer, to be anyone whose title included 'residents advocate' as was introduced a year or so ago.

THE AUSTRALIAN RETIREMENT VILLAGE RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION (ARVRA)

The representatives of the residents' associations attending the RVA Conference met formally and informally to discuss issues of common concern. Pam Graudenz from the newly formed ACT Association was welcomed to her first meeting. Joan Stone (SA) and Pam will discuss with their respective committees whether their associations will become members of the national body.

At the annual meeting Les Armstrong (Queensland) was voted in as President and Malcolm McKenzie (New South Wales) as Secretary. A formal constitution is being drawn up to be presented to the States for approval.

With the increase in the numbers of operators working across States, the greater Federal engagement and the industry's increasingly national focus it is evident that residents must also have a national voice.

SENIORS HOUSING CENTRE

As planned, a tender was put out for an NGO to provide services in collaboration with the Seniors Housing Centre to extend its services and geographical accessibility. The tender was awarded to COTA at the very end of 2011.

If you have any problems or queries about village matters do consult the SHC at 219 St Georges Tce, Tel 1300 367 057. We urge you to do this because it is important that the Centre becomes aware of the needs of residents. Even when unable to assist they are collating information to provide a fuller picture of the situation in retirement villages. Often during our discussions with the Department over the legislation the response would be 'we don't get enquiries about that' or 'that has not been raised with us'. Maxine Nayton (proactive compliance officer) repeatedly tells us the number of complaints is miniscule.

It is important the Centre (and so the Department) receives the information about what problems exist in retirement villages. It is also hoped they will organise information sessions on matters frequently raised by residents.

So we urge you to take queries to the Seniors Housing Centre and urge you, then, to let us know about the outcome.

That seems to be enough urging for one newsletter.

MEMBERSHIP

It is pleasing to report there has been a steady growth in both village and individual membership of WARCRA over the last few years but our strength and effectiveness depends a lot on the number of members we have. With the aim of increasing membership a subcommittee has been established. Subcommittee members have drawn up a comprehensive, but not yet quite complete, list of villages in the State and will shortly contact them with information about WARCRA.

Reminder: Membership fees cover the period from January to December each year - which means they are now due.

Patrick Wyburn

President

ELECTIONS FOR THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE AT THE AGM

In accordance with section 10.2 of the constitution notice is hereby given to all members of all persons seeking election to membership of the committee.

The constitution allows for ten elected members on the committee. There are seven positions for election this year and there are nine nominations therefore an election will be conducted at the AGM.

Members of the Committee who are continuing as members, not needing to stand for re-election

Jane Levett (Vice President)

Ken McKnight

Patrick Wyburn (President but standing down from that role)

Members of the Committee standing for re-election are:

Ron Hasluck (Treasurer and Membership Rep )(Forrest Lakes)

Philip Griffin (Lawley Park)

Bernard Francis (Jacaranda Gdns)

David Carlson (Forsyth Gdns)

Co-opted member of committee standing for election:

David Street (Lady Brand)

Those not currently Committee members who are standing for election in 2012:

Joan Worthy (Settlers, Ravenswood)

Rob Waite (Arcadia Waters)

Ron Lullfitz (Mercy)

Rev Des Cousins (Harbourside)