How do retirement village management fees work?

Here’s why residents’ fees won't rise uncontrollably or become unaffordable

Andrew Carins from Renaissance Retirement Living: “In this video we're chatting with some of our experienced and past professional people who have scrutinized our contracts, the Retirement Village Act, and the financial aspect of a retirement village, to ensure that what they were coming into was something that they understood and was acceptable to them. Let's hear what they have got to say.”

How did you find the aspect of the escalating cost of management fees?

“That that was the main worry and I think after talking to all the residents that is their main worry of it: can the levies get out of control? What we have was that we formed a finance subcommittee where we have access to the general manager every three months. We go through all the figures.”

“I've developed what is known as “the rule of 70” which can help people – give them the smarts to calculate how long it would take before they levies double. That worries the elderly that they're not in control of their finances. But with the levy structure and with the Act as it is, it can't really happen.

Check the retirement village’s history of fee increases

“The other thing of course is declaring the history and that is important.”

“That's right and now that Renaissance has been going 10 years, we can see the rate of increase over the 10 years.”

“And that's relative to inflation?”

“In fact it's been lower than inflation. And by dividing that rate into the 70, we'll give you how long it would take to double the levy. Once people see that and understand that, it gives them a lot of comfort.

“The other aspect of course is what's embedded in the Act. I know you've got ideas around the reports that we provide the residents with respect to showing that breakdown between those items that are subject to a CPI increase, and those items that are not. Is that helpful?”

“Very much and also the explanations that are given, straight away the residents feel in control that management can't run away with the expenditure and we have the protection of the Retirement Villages Act.”

Find out why so many people love moving to Renaissance

At Renaissance Victoria Point we’re always happy to welcome you to our village for a personal tour. The best way to find out the reality of retirement village life is to come and see it for yourself!

We’d love to show you around and introduce you to some of our residents. They’ll share wonderful stories of their life in our community and why they’re glad they made the move.

Call Renaissance today on (07) 3820 7700 or get in touch online to find out more about our outstanding Victoria Point retirement living.