The review of the Retirement Villages Act 2003 has turned into a slow-motion farce.
Every extra month without reform is another month residents remain trapped in unfair contracts — waiting far too long for their own money, paying fees after they have left, and battling disputes in systems stacked in favour of operators.
Let us call it for what it is: the government is dragging its heels.
Hiding behind phrases like "careful consideration" and "getting it right" is nothing more than political cover for doing nothing while older New Zealanders suffer.
This is not a theoretical policy exercise. This is about real people, many in their 80s and 90s, who do not have the luxury of waiting years for fairness and protection.
The government has all the evidence it needs to act. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development has years of reports detailing systemic unfairness. Residents have spoken out repeatedly.
International models, for example New South Wales, show that fairer rules including repayment timeframes can be introduced without bankrupting the sector.
The worst injustice is "the elephant in the room" — exit payments. Residents’ capital is routinely held for months, even years, after they leave.
The answer is simple. Require operators to lodge sufficient funds in a government agent trust account, just as landlords must under the Residential Tenancies Act.
That would force repayment within a set timeframe and end the industry’s excuse that "there’s no money until a new resident moves in."
That excuse sounds eerily like a Ponzi scheme, especially when one of the "big six" operators openly boasts in its annual report of holding $2.8 billion of interest-free funds from residents.
The Retirement Villages Association (RVA) calls this a "resident-funded model".
If that is true, why don’t residents share in the profits? We all know the answer.
The RVA continues to refuse to make any concessions, or even enter into meaningful discussions with the Retirement Village Residents Association (RVResidents) on the urgent issue of a mandated timeframe for repayment of capital.
This stance disregards the overwhelming feedback from thousands of residents and their families and, effectively, prolongs financial hardship for many older New Zealanders who cannot afford to wait months, or even years, for what is rightfully theirs.
The operators love to boast that "95% of residents are happy". No-one disputes that but happiness does not make an unfair law fair.
The Act is broken, and it must be fixed.
The government must commit to:
— A hard, enforceable deadline for exit payments — no more than 3 to 4 months
— Operators, not residents, paying for the repairs and maintenance of operator-owned chattels
— An end to ongoing fees after departure
— Contracts written in plain English, so residents know exactly what they are signing
— A genuinely independent dispute resolution system with real teeth and real consequences
I have visited and presented in more than 400 villages across New Zealand. I have heard the stories first-hand.
Residents are tired of being told they are "just grumpy old radicals" for daring to demand fairness.
RVResidents is no longer a lone voice. We have the backing of Consumer NZ, Grey Power, Citizens Advice, Age Concern, the Law Society, Community Law, Positive Ageing and major superannuation groups. These organisations represent hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders.
The message is clear: reforming the Retirement Villages Act is not just a residents’ issue — it is a national issue of fairness, dignity and consumer protection. Ignoring this call is ignoring a powerful cross-section of New Zealand society.
We are done with hollow promises. We are done with endless process. And we are especially done with ministers claiming to "care about older New Zealanders" while siding with corporate operators.
This review will not be judged by the weight of its final report. It will be judged by how quickly it delivers concrete protections.
Every day without change is a deliberate political choice. Right now, the choice this government is making is to protect operators over people.
The clock has run out and so has our patience. The government’s choice is clear: side with the people who built this country, or side with those exploiting them.
— Brian Peat is a Dunedin village resident and president of the Retirement Village Residents Association.
