What to Check Before Signing a Retirement Village Agreement in Victoria

The Current Legal Framework

Four instruments matter, and it is worth being precise about them because a good deal of published commentary is not.

• Retirement Villages Act 1986 (Vic). The principal Act, which should always be read in the current authorised version published on the Victorian Legislation website. It contains the disclosure regime (Part 4, Division 1), the contract requirements (Part 4, Divisions 2 and 3), contract checks (Part 4, Division 4), entry payments and cooling off (Part 4, Divisions 5 and 6), the exit-entitlement and valuation regime (Part 5B), reinstatement and condition reports (Part 6), charges (Part 6A) and the dispute-resolution scheme (Part 6A, Divisions 5 and 6, and Part 7).
• Retirement Villages Amendment Act 2025 (Vic). Act No. 19/2025 — the amending Act that inserted most of the current provisions. It is commonly, and incorrectly, described as a 2024 Act; the enacted amending statute is the 2025 Act, and the current provisions are best cited by their section numbers in the principal Act rather than by reference to the amending Act.
• Retirement Villages Regulations 2026 (Vic). SR 25/2026, which came into operation on 1 May 2026 and revoked the earlier records-and-notices and infringements regulations. It prescribes the information-statement content, the standard-form contracts, prohibited terms, the financial-arrangement amounts, the forms and the dispute-record requirements.
• Retirement Villages Amendment (Standard Form Contracts) Regulations 2026 (Vic). SR 105/2026, made and commenced on 7 July 2026, which amended SR 25/2026. Always work from the current authorised version of the Regulations on the Victorian Legislation website, because further amendments are made from time to time.

A retirement village is not residential aged care. Village contracts are private consumer contracts regulated by the Victorian Act; Commonwealth-funded residential aged care is regulated separately. Where a person is moving from a village into residential care, both regimes apply to different parts of the arrangement, and the interaction is dealt with below under advances against the exit entitlement.

Which Rules Apply to Your Contract

The first question in any review is which version of the law governs the document in front of you. For a contract being signed now, the answer is straightforward: the current provisions of the Act and the Regulations apply in full, and the contract must be in the prescribed standard form.

The position for existing arrangements is more nuanced, and it is not accurate to say that pre-reform contracts are simply governed by their old terms. Part 9 of the Act contains transitional provisions that both preserve and extend:

• Section 61 provides that Divisions 2, 3, 5 and 6 of the new Part 4 do not apply to a resident occupying under an applicable resident right or in respect of an applicable residence contract, and that sections 18, 18A, 18B and 20 to 26 of the old Act continue to apply to those residents and contracts, with the modifications the section sets out.
• Section 63 extends the new information-statement publication obligation in Division 1 of Part 4 to pre-existing villages, with the trigger date adjusted. Existing villages therefore have to publish and maintain a current information statement even though their existing contracts were signed under the old regime.
• Section 64 extends the contract-check Division to applicable residence contracts, with the terminology of the old Act substituted and with the section 3B meaning of capital gain and capital loss displaced for one item of the check content.
• Section 65 preserves the old Part 5 in relation to a charge in force immediately before the relevant commencement.
• Section 66 provides that Divisions 2 and 4 of Part 5B do not apply to applicable contracts, while Division 3 — the valuation regime — does apply, with a modified meaning of capital gain and capital loss.

The practical consequence for a prospective resident is that a village's published information statement and its contract-check practice are useful evidence of how the operator runs the village even where most existing residents are on older contracts. For an existing resident, it means some of the new protections are available now and should not be waived on the assumption that the old contract governs everything.

Tenure, Owner and Non-Owner Status

The Act divides residents into owner residents and non-owner residents, and a significant number of provisions turn on that division. Before anything else, establish which category the proposed arrangement puts you in, and from which document.

Common structures

• Freehold or strata title. The resident owns the premises, usually with an owners corporation, and enters a management contract with the operator for services. Section 26I treats a contract for the sale of an owner resident's premises as conditional on the operator entering into a management contract with the purchaser on or before completion — a point that matters for resale.
• Long-term lease or licence to occupy. The resident is a non-owner resident with a contractual right of occupation, typically registered or recorded against the village land. This is the structure to which the settling in period, the condition report and the reinstatement provisions are directed.
• Company title or unit trust. The resident holds shares or units carrying a right of occupation. Transfer is controlled by the constitution or trust deed, and the resale market can be materially narrower than for titled property.
• Loan and licence arrangements. An interest- free loan to the operator secures a licence to occupy, with the loan repayable on departure subject to the exit formula.

What to verify

• the source document for the interest — certificate of title and plan, lease, licence, company constitution and share certificate, or trust deed;
• whether an owners corporation exists, and if so its rules, budget, fee levels, insurance and any special levies;
• whether the retirement village notice has been lodged against the land, since that is what brings the village within the Act's registration regime and is the trigger for the publication obligation in section 20;
• who the proprietor is and who the operator is — the Act imposes different obligations on each, and they are frequently different entities within a group; and
• whether any part of the arrangement is in truth a residential tenancy, an aged-care arrangement or a serviced-apartment contract sitting alongside the village documents.

Do not import assumptions from ordinary strata living or from renting. A village resident's rights come from the Act and the contract, and the balance between them is different from both of those other regimes.

Documents You Should Have Before Signing

Section 24 sets the pre-signing document timetable, and it deals with the residence contract and the management contract separately. The two limbs are often blended in summaries; they should not be.

• Section 24(1). At least 21 days before a resident enters into a residence contract for premises in a village, the operator must give the resident a copy of the residence contract.
• Section 24(2). At least 21 days before a resident enters into any management contract with the operator, the operator must give the resident a copy of the management contract, the information statement, the by-laws of the village and all other documents referred to in the definition of residence documents.
• Section 24(3). The information statement need not be given again if the resident has previously been provided with a copy and the information in it has not changed in a material particular.
• Section 24(4). The subsection also deals with residence documents the resident has requested to inspect but not yet inspected, again on the 21-day timetable.

Two separate rights sit alongside that timetable and can be exercised much earlier, before any contract is on foot:

• Section 22 — a person proposing to become a resident may ask the operator or a representative for the village's information statement, and it must be given not later than seven days after the request, in a manner agreed with the person making the request, and free of charge. The request may be oral or in writing.
• Section 23 — a person proposing to become a resident may request to inspect one or more residence documents, and those in the recipient's possession or control must be made available not later than seven days after the request, in the manner agreed, and free of charge. Section 26A gives an equivalent inspection right to an existing resident.

Use both rights early. Requesting the information statement and the residence documents before you are emotionally or financially committed costs nothing, produces a dated paper trail, and starts the 21-day clock from a position of knowledge rather than pressure. If an operator will not provide documents within seven days of a request, that is itself information about how the village is run.

For a non-owner resident, add the condition report to the list. Section 37J requires the operator to give two copies of a signed condition report, in the prescribed form, before the resident enters into occupation. That is dealt with below.

The Information Statement

The information statement is the centre of the current disclosure regime. It replaced the former disclosure statement, and unlike its predecessor it is a published, signed, annually updated document rather than a one-off handout.

Form, content and certification — section 19

The information statement must be in a form approved by the Director, must contain the prescribed information, and must present that information clearly and concisely, including anything included as an attachment. Before publication, the operator must sign it and attest to whether its contents are correct to the best of the operator's knowledge; where there is a proprietor who is not the operator, the proprietor must also sign and attest. The same signing and attestation obligations apply to an updated statement. Each carries substantial penalties.

The prescribed content is set by the Regulations — regulation 12 prescribes the matters that must be included, and regulation 11 prescribes the insurance information that must be included. Read the statement against those regulations rather than assuming that whatever is in the document is complete.

Publication and updating — sections 20 and 21

Section 20 requires the operator to publish the certified information statement on the operator's internet site from the day the retirement village notice is lodged with the Registrar of Titles, and to keep it published; updated statements must likewise be published. Section 21 requires the operator to update the statement at the end of every 12-month period, beginning with the day of first publication, and to update it as soon as possible after any change to a material fact or particular. A proprietor who is not the operator must take all reasonable steps to notify the operator of any material change of which the proprietor is aware.

Practical checks: find the statement on the operator's own website rather than relying on a printed copy; check the date of the version you have against the published version; and ask specifically whether anything material has changed since the version you were given.

Promotional material — section 22(4)

If the proprietor, operator or an agent gives or sends targeted promotional material to a person, a copy of the information statement for the village must be included with the material. That obligation is separate from the request-based obligation in section 22(2) and from the 21-day rule in section 24, and it carries its own penalty. If you received a personalised brochure, mailing or pack without an information statement, note the date and keep the material.

Why the statement matters beyond disclosure

The information statement does more than inform. Because section 26D(2)(a) prohibits a residence contract from providing for a fee, cost, charge or liability that was not disclosed in the information statement, the statement operates as the boundary of what can lawfully be charged under the contract. Reconciling every monetary obligation in the contract against the information statement, line by line, is one of the highest-value checks available before signing.

The Prescribed Standard-Form Contract

New contracts must now use the prescribed standard form. The form is Form 4 in Schedule 2 to the Regulations, titled “Prescribed Standard Form Residence and Management Contract”, prescribed for the purposes of section 26B by regulations 19 and 21:

• for a residence contract for a non-owner resident, the prescribed form is Parts 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 of Form 4 (regulation 19); and
• for a management contract, the prescribed form is Parts 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6 of Form 4 (regulation 21).

Regulations 20 and 22 prescribe the provisions that must be included in a residence contract and a management contract respectively — including the date of signing and commencement, the cooling-off period in accordance with section 26X, the names, addresses and addresses for service of the proprietor, the operator and the resident, and the details of the premises.

The grace period has ended

Regulation 25 created a limited grace period. It provided that it was sufficient compliance with regulations 19, 20 and 23 if a residence contract entered into during the grace period included the provisions prescribed by regulation 26, omitted the provisions specified in regulation 27, and was in one of the forms prescribed under regulation 14 of the former Retirement Villages (Contractual Arrangements) Regulations 2017 subject to the modifications in the corresponding Part of Schedule 3. An equivalent rule applied to management contracts by reference to regulations 28, 27 and Schedule 3. Regulation 25(3) expressly permitted early adoption of the new prescribed form before 1 September 2026.

Regulation 25(4) defines the grace period as the period beginning on and including 1 May 2026 and ending on 31 August 2026. That period has expired. A contract entered into now must be in the prescribed standard form, and the Schedule 3 modifications are relevant only to contracts entered into during the grace period.

What happens if the wrong form is used

Section 26B makes it an offence to enter into a residence or management contract that is not in the prescribed form and does not contain the prescribed provisions. Importantly, the section also provides that a failure to comply does not affect the validity of the contract entered into. In other words, non-compliance may expose the operator to enforcement action, but it does not of itself invalidate the contract or release the resident from its terms. That is why any concern about the form or the prescribed provisions should be raised and resolved before signing rather than afterwards.

If you are presented with a document that is plainly not Form 4 — an older 2017-style contract, a bespoke deed, or a standard form with parts deleted — ask in writing which prescribed form is being used and why. Compare the document against Form 4 in the current authorised Regulations, which are freely available.

Prohibited and Void Terms

Section 26D contains two prohibitions and one consequence, and it is worth quoting the structure precisely because it is often summarised too loosely.

• Section 26D(1). A contracting party must not enter into a residence contract with an owner resident that provides for the alteration or reinstatement of the owner resident's premises. Reinstatement clauses of the kind that are permissible for non-owner residents are therefore prohibited for owner residents.
• Section 26D(2). A contracting party must not enter into a residence contract with a resident that provides for a requirement to pay a fee, cost, charge or liability that was not disclosed in the information statement, or that contains any other provision prohibited by the regulations from being included in a retirement village contract. Regulation 23 sets out the prohibited contractual terms.
• Section 26D(3). If a contract contains a provision in contravention of the section, the provision is void.

Both prohibitions carry offence penalties, and the voidness consequence operates without any application to a tribunal. That said, arguing after the event that a clause is void is a far worse position than not signing it. Section 26J separately prohibits contracting out of the Act's protections.

Section 26F(3) makes void any provision in a contract or document that has, or purports to have, the effect of overriding or negativing the exit-entitlement and capital-gain requirements. Section 38BC(3) makes void any provision of a management or residence contract inconsistent with the prohibition on charging for optional services after vacant possession or death. Sections 38C and 38D prohibit an operator demanding a power of attorney or an appointment as proxy — a demand of that kind in a village document is a serious warning sign.

Cooling Off and the Settling In Period

Cooling off — section 26X

A person who signs a residence contract to become a resident may, at any time before the end of seven business days after signing, rescind the contract in accordance with the Act. This operates despite anything to the contrary in the Sale of Land Act 1962 (Vic).

On rescission, the person is entitled to the return of all money paid under the contract except the prescribed administration fee, which may be retained by the contracting party or, where an owner resident entered into the contract, by the owner resident. Under regulation 33 that fee is the greater of $100 or 0.2% of the entry payment under the contract. On a $600,000 entry payment, 0.2% is $1,200; on a $40,000 entry payment, the $100 floor applies.

Section 26X(3) requires the contract to contain a conspicuous notice advising the person signing that they may, before the end of seven business days after signing, give notice that they wish to terminate. Section 26X(4) provides that if the contract does not contain that notice, the person who signed may rescind. Check for the notice, check that it is conspicuous, and diarise the seven business days from the day of signing before you leave the room.

Settling in — sections 26G and 26H

The settling in period is a different mechanism, and it is not simply a matter of contract. Section 26G applies where a retirement village contract entered into by a non-owner resident provides that the resident may leave at any time during a specified period immediately following the day after the resident becomes entitled to occupy, or the day after the resident occupies, premises in the village, and provides that no leaving fee applies during that period. Where the contract does provide for such a period, the Act then imposes requirements:

• the contract must set out the day the period commences and the day it ends (section 26G(2));
• the commencement day must not be before the cooling-off period under section 26X has expired (section 26G(3));
• the contract must require the resident to give the operator written notice of a proposal to leave during the period, before leaving (section 26G(4));
• the contract may only require the resident to pay one or more of: fair market rent, determined as prescribed, from the day the period commences until the resident delivers up vacant possession; the cost of repairing damage other than fair wear and tear; a reasonable administration fee, determined as prescribed; and any other prescribed costs (section 26G(5));
• the contract is taken to include a condition that no other payments may be required (section 26G(6)); and
• the contract is taken to include a condition that, if the resident permanently vacates during the period, the contracting party must pay the resident's exit entitlement within 14 days of vacating (section 26G(7)).

The prescribed amounts are in regulation 32. Fair market rent is determined by taking the average of the rent charged, calculated on a daily basis, for three comparable premises let under residential rental agreements by residential rental providers other than a public statutory authority, in the same or nearest locality, being the three premises the operator reasonably considers most similar having regard to standard and condition, size and layout, and location. The reasonable administration fee is the greater of $100 or 0.2% of the entry payment under the contract.

Section 26H provides that where a contract provides for a settling in period, the contractual provisions relating to the period do not apply if the resident dies during the period or moves to a residential care facility during the period. That is a significant carve-out for exactly the two events most likely to prompt an early departure, and it means the general exit rules apply instead.

Section 26Y(3) separately prohibits charging a deferred management fee where the resident leaves the village within the settling in period.

Entry, Recurrent and Optional Charges

The entry payment

Establish the amount of the entry payment, when it is payable, what it buys, how it is held and how it is treated on exit — because it is the base on which the deferred management fee, the cooling-off administration fee and the settling-in administration fee are all calculated. Part 4, Division 5 of the Act deals with entry payments, and regulation 35 prescribes $10,000 as the relevant amount for the definition of applicable entry payment in section 28.

Deferred management fee — section 26Y

A person must not charge a resident a deferred management fee unless it is calculated as a percentage of the resident's entry payment, by reference to the length of time the resident lives in the village — which is taken to cease on the date the resident gives vacant possession — and in accordance with any prescribed requirements. Regulation 34 prescribes that the fee must be calculated on a daily basis, and by reference to the aggregated length of time the resident has resided in the village if the resident moves between premises within the village.

Two consequences follow. First, the accrual stops at vacant possession, not at resale — so a slow resale does not increase the fee. Second, section 26Y(2) prohibits charging a deferred management fee in respect of occupation of premises where the resident moves to different premises in the same village managed by the operator, and the aggregation rule in regulation 34(b) prevents the clock restarting on a move within the village.

When you model the fee, get the operator to confirm in writing the percentage for each year, the capping year if there is one, the base amount to which the percentage is applied, and worked examples at three, five and ten years using the daily accrual method.

Maintenance charges

The maintenance charge funds the services and facilities of the village. The Act regulates both its content and its increases:

• Section 38B requires a maintenance charge notice specifying the amount, the goods and services to be funded, the amount contributing to the operator's costs of managing the village (including the cost of employing or engaging people and of maintaining facilities, common areas and capital items), and a statement that the charge does not include optional services. Where an owners corporation is incorporated and the resident's share is clearly and separately specified in a fee notice or final notice under the Owners Corporations Act 2006 (Vic), a separate notice is not required.
• Sections 38 and 38AA regulate increases, including a formula for the adjusted maintenance charge based on the all-groups consumer price index for Melbourne in original terms published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, with rounding to the nearest 10 cents.
• Section 38BB deals with abatement of maintenance charges.
• Sections 38BE and 38BF require any surplus in the accounts for a financial year to be carried over, and deal with making good a deficit; regulation 45 prescribes circumstances in which the operator is not required to make good a deficit.

Capital maintenance and capital replacement

Sections 38BG to 38BO deal with capital maintenance and capital replacement — the obligations of the operator and the residents, urgent works, the capital maintenance fund, extraordinary payments from the fund, the capital maintenance plan, and the circumstances in which no fund or plan is required. Regulations 46 to 52 define what is and is not capital maintenance, what is and is not an item of capital, when maintenance or replacement is urgent, additional amounts the operator must pay into the fund, and additional information that must be set out in the plan.

Ask for the current capital maintenance plan and the fund balance, and read them together with the last three years of village accounts. A village with an ageing physical plant and a thin fund is a village where future contributions or special levies are more likely.

Optional services

Optional services are charged separately from the maintenance charge. Confirm which services are optional, how they are priced, how prices change, and whether any are bundled in a way that makes them effectively compulsory. Sections 38BQ to 38BU deal with variation, reduction and withdrawal of services and facilities, including the requirement for a special resolution at a meeting of residents before certain variations and the prohibition on reducing or withdrawing certain services and facilities.

Exit Entitlement, Capital Gain and Capital Loss

The exit entitlement is what actually comes back. Everything else in the financial model is a deduction from it.

The contract must state the method — section 26F

A residence contract must address the method of calculating any repayable exit entitlement the contracting party is liable to pay on the resident vacating (section 26F(1)). Subject to subsection (4), the amount to which a resident is entitled on vacating or death must be calculated in the prescribed manner (section 26F(2)). A provision that overrides or negatives the section is void (section 26F(3)).

Section 26F(4) is the substantive protection: a residence contract must not provide for a method of apportioning capital gains and capital losses that apportions a higher proportion of capital loss to the resident than the proportion of capital gain apportioned to the resident. So a contract cannot give the resident 25% of any gain and 50% of any loss. It can give the resident 25% of the gain and 25% or less of the loss. Capital gain and capital loss take their meaning from section 3B.

Section 3D governs the calculation of the exit entitlement and the estimate of it, and regulation 31 prescribes any outstanding maintenance charge as an amount to be deducted for the purposes of section 3D(2)(b)(iv) and 3D(3)(b)(vi).

Valuation — Part 5B, Division 3

Where the resident and the person liable cannot agree on the value of the premises, sections 32K and following provide for the appointment of a valuer. This regime matters most where the exit entitlement depends on a market value rather than a fixed formula. Under section 66, this Division applies to applicable pre-reform contracts, with a modified meaning of capital gain and capital loss — one of the clearest examples of new law reaching existing arrangements.

Timing — sections 32I and 32J

Section 32I requires the person liable to pay an exit entitlement, or any part of it, to a vacating resident to pay no later than whichever is the earlier of:

1. the day determined in accordance with the retirement village contracts;
2. a day agreed between the person and the resident; and
3. 12 months after the day on which the resident permanently vacates the residential premises.

The 12-month date is a long-stop, not a target: if the contract fixes an earlier date, or an earlier date is agreed, that earlier date governs. The obligation carries a penalty of 60 penalty units for a natural person and 300 for a body corporate. Section 32J requires a statement, given at the same time as payment, setting out the exit entitlement or part payable, showing how it is calculated, and including any prescribed particulars.

Where the resident leaves during a settling in period, section 26G(7) requires payment within 14 days instead — a much shorter period, and a reason to identify at the outset whether a settling in period exists and when it ends.

Charges After Departure and After Death

This is one of the areas where the current Act is far more protective than older commentary suggests, and where the answer is statutory rather than contractual.

Maintenance charges — section 38A

• A former resident of premises in a village is not liable for a maintenance charge that arises on or after the time at which the former resident delivered up vacant possession (section 38A(1)).
• If a resident dies before delivering up vacant possession, the resident is not liable for a maintenance charge that arises on or after the time of death (section 38A(2)).
• The proprietor or operator must not purport to charge a former resident a maintenance charge arising on or after vacant possession, or purport to charge such a charge after death — each an offence carrying 60 penalty units for a natural person and 120 for a body corporate (sections 38A(3) and (4)).
• “Former resident” is defined in section 38A(5) as a person who was an owner resident or a non-owner resident of the village and has delivered up vacant possession. The protection is therefore not limited to non-owner residents.

Optional services — section 38BC

The proprietor or operator must not levy a charge for optional services against a person who has delivered up vacant possession for any period after that time, and must not levy such a charge against a resident for any period on or after the resident's death where the resident died before delivering up vacant possession. Any provision of a management or residence contract inconsistent with those prohibitions is void to the extent of the inconsistency.

What can still be payable

These provisions are directed at maintenance charges and optional services. They do not convert every other outgoing into someone else's problem. For an owner resident in particular, obligations that arise from ownership rather than from the village contract — owners-corporation fees, council rates, land tax where applicable, building and contents insurance and utilities — may continue until the premises are sold. Identify those separately in the pre-signing review, and model them for a resale period that may run for many months.

The practical checklist item is therefore: delivering up vacant possession is the event that stops maintenance and optional-service charges. Understand what the contract requires for vacant possession to be given, because that date drives both the charge cut-off and the deferred management fee accrual.

Condition Reports, Reinstatement and Renovation

Part 6 of the Act deals with the physical condition of the premises. Most of it applies to non-owner residents, and it was almost entirely rewritten by the 2025 amendments.

Condition report — sections 37J to 37L

• Before a non-owner resident enters into occupation, the operator must give the resident two copies of a condition report signed by the operator, specifying the state of repair and general condition of the premises on the day specified in the report (section 37J(1)). Giving an electronic copy is deemed to satisfy the two-copy requirement (section 37J(2)).
• The report must be in the prescribed form (section 37J(3)), which regulation 15 prescribes as Form 1 in Schedule 2 — the Retirement Village Premises Condition Report.
• Within five business days after entering into occupation, the resident must return one copy signed, or with an endorsement agreeing or disagreeing with the whole or a specified part of the report (section 37J(4)).
• Section 37K deals with amendment of an inaccurate or incomplete condition report, and section 37L makes the condition report evidence of the state of repair.

The condition report can be critical evidence in a later reinstatement dispute. Complete it carefully, photograph the premises, record every existing defect however minor, and keep a dated copy in a safe place away from the premises.

Reinstatement — sections 37D to 37G

• Section 37D imposes the obligation on a non-owner resident to leave the premises in the same condition, taking into account fair wear and tear.
• Where the resident has not complied and works other than prescribed works are required, section 37E requires the operator to give written notice specifying that the resident did not comply, the works required, and the estimated cost. The notice must be given within 21 days of the date vacant possession was delivered up, and the works must be completed within 90 days.
• Section 37F allows the resident to give a reinstatement disagreement notice stating that the resident complied with section 37D, that the works specified are not required, or that the cost specified is excessive. It must be given within 21 days of the date the resident was given the reinstatement notice.
• Section 37G allows the operator to carry out the works specified in the reinstatement notice if no disagreement notice is given within 21 days after the reinstatement notice was given, in which case the resident must pay the operator's reasonable costs.

Those three 21-day periods are easy to miss in the weeks after a move, particularly where a family member or attorney is handling the exit. Before signing, note them; on departure, diarise them.

Renovation — sections 37H and 37I

Section 37H provides that a resident who delivers up vacant possession is not required to renovate the premises or to pay for the cost of renovation, unless the resident enters into an agreement with the operator on the terms the section allows. Section 37I deals with when renovations must be completed. A contract clause that requires refurbishment as a matter of course should be tested against these provisions and, for an owner resident, against the prohibition in section 26D(1).

Modifications during occupation

Sections 37B and 37C, with regulation 44, deal with when a non-owner resident may modify fixtures and fittings, including modifications that do not require the operator's consent, and with the operator's consent where it is required. If accessibility modifications are likely to be needed, resolve the process before signing rather than after a fall.

Aged Care and Alternative Accommodation Advances

A common and previously acute problem was a resident needing money for a residential care deposit or replacement accommodation while the exit entitlement remained unpaid. Part 5B now addresses it directly, and a pre-signing review should confirm that the contract does not obstruct it.

• Sections 32Q and 32R impose obligations to make aged care payments for vacating non-owner residents and alternative accommodation payments for vacating residents, on the conditions set out in those sections.
• Sections 32S and 32T govern the request. A vacating non-owner resident may request the person liable for the exit entitlement to make aged care payments to the approved provider of a residential care facility. The request must be in a form approved by the Director and must set out the name of the facility, the date the person has entered or proposes to enter it, the amount requested and any other prescribed information. Section 32T does the equivalent for alternative accommodation, with the prescribed details and information set by regulation 39 — including the nature of the arrangement, substantiating documents, banking details and the proposed recipient's contact details.
• Sections 32U and 32V govern timing. Where the resident has not yet entered the facility, the first aged care payment must be made at least 28 days before the proposed entry date, or if the application was not made that far in advance, as soon as practicable before it. Where the resident has entered or is about to enter, the first payment must be made no later than 28 days after the request.
• Section 32W sets out when the obligation ceases — including sale of an owner's premises, a written request to stop, the resident's death, payment of the prescribed percentage, or the resident not taking up the facility or arrangement.
• Regulation 40 prescribes that percentage as 85% of the unpaid exit entitlement as reasonably estimated in accordance with section 3D by the person liable, as at the date the requirement to make payments arises.
• Regulations 36 to 38 require records to be kept, require a payment statement within seven days of each payment with prescribed particulars, and require the operator to give a vacating non-owner resident written notice of the operator's reasonable estimate of the unpaid exit entitlement within 14 days of receiving a request.
• Regulation 29 prescribes, for the definition of aged care payment, a refundable accommodation deposit within the meaning of the Aged Care Act 2024 (Cth) for a vacating non-owner resident who entered into a village contract between 1 August 2006 and 29 July 2017. Regulation 30 prescribes the circumstances for alternative accommodation payments, including arrangements under Parts 3, 4 or 4A of the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 (Vic), supported residential services, and inpatient health services.

The relevant request forms are forms approved by the Director rather than forms in the Regulations, so obtain the current approved form from Consumer Affairs Victoria at the time of the request. For the aged-care side of the same transition, see our guides on aged care costs, RADs and DAPs and retirement village versus residential aged care.

Contract Checks After You Sign

The contract check is a new and under-used protection. It is a structured, operator-prepared explanation of the resident's own contract, and it is free in the circumstances the Act specifies.

• Sections 26K to 26M establish contract checks and set out the information that must be given to an owner resident and to a non-owner resident respectively. Regulations 13 and 14 prescribe the insurance information that must be included in each.
• Section 26N requires the operator to provide a written contract check to each resident in each calendar year, no later than 14 days after the anniversary of the day the previous year's check was provided, in a document in a form approved by the Director.
• Section 26O allows a resident to apply for a contract check at any time. If no meeting is requested, the written check must be provided in the approved form no later than 30 days after the request. If a meeting is requested, the operator must respond in writing within seven days and hold the meeting within 30 days. The operator must provide any reasonable assistance to a resident to make an application.
• Section 26P prohibits charging for a yearly check under section 26N, and prohibits charging for a requested check under section 26O where, on or before making the application, the resident gave the operator 28 days or more written notice of an intention to leave the village.
• Section 26Q requires, where the check is provided in a meeting, a written summary of the information provided, in the approved form, no later than seven days after the meeting; and allows the resident to nominate in writing a person or persons to represent them or attend with them.

Two practical points. First, under section 64 the contract-check Division extends to applicable pre-reform contracts, so an existing resident on an older contract can ask for one. Second, the right to nominate a representative means an adult child, an attorney or a lawyer can attend the meeting — which is usually where the exit numbers become concrete.

Death, the Estate and Probate

A village contract is very often the largest single asset in an estate, and how it unwinds should be understood before it is entered into.

The Act's own rules are date-driven, not grant-driven. Under section 32I the payment deadline runs from the day the resident permanently vacates the premises. Under section 38A a resident who dies before delivering up vacant possession is not liable for maintenance charges arising on or after death, and under section 38BC optional-service charges cannot be levied for periods on or after death. Section 26H removes the contractual settling-in provisions where the resident dies during the period. None of those provisions depends on a grant of representation.

Who is entitled to receive or deal with the exit entitlement is a separate question, and it is not answered by the Act alone. It depends on the legal nature of the resident's interest — whether the resident was an owner resident or a non-owner resident, and what the residence and management contracts say — on any joint ownership and the consequences of survivorship, and on general estate-administration law.

An executor's authority derives from the will rather than from the grant, but a grant of probate is commonly required in order to prove that authority to third parties for significant dealings. Where there is no will, or no willing or able executor, authority depends on a grant of letters of administration. For an owner resident, a sale or transfer of the premises will ordinarily require the person who holds the necessary legal authority to deal with the interest. Section 31A of the Administration and Probate Act 1958 (Vic) may protect a person who makes a qualifying payment without production of probate or letters of administration, but only within its current terms and conditions, which should be checked in the current authorised text rather than assumed. Nothing in that provision obliges an operator to pay a particular claimant without a grant.

The practical consequence is that estate administration and the statutory exit-entitlement timetable may run in parallel: the section 32I deadline continues to run while the estate is being administered.

Practical steps before signing: confirm what the operator will require on death; make sure the Will and enduring powers of attorney are current and deal expressly with the village interest; and record where the contract, information statement and condition report are kept. For what happens in practice, see our article on what happens when a retirement village resident dies.

Note also sections 38C and 38D: an operator must not demand a power of attorney and must not demand appointment as a proxy. Appointing an attorney is a decision for the resident and their adviser, not a condition of entry.

Remedies If the Pre-Signing Rules Are Broken

Knowing the remedies is part of the pre-signing analysis, because it tells you which breaches are recoverable and which are not.

• Rescission for disclosure breach — section 26. If there is a contravention of the disclosure Division in respect of a resident, the resident may rescind any residence contract relating to the village, in accordance with section 42. On a proprietor's application, VCAT may declare that the resident does not have that right, but only if satisfied that the proprietor and any agent acted honestly and reasonably and ought fairly to be excused, and that the resident is in substantially as good a position as if the Division had been complied with.
• Rescission for missing cooling-off notice — section 26X(4). If the contract does not contain the conspicuous notice required by section 26X(3), the person who signed may rescind.
• Void terms — sections 26D(3), 26F(3), 38BC(3). Prohibited terms, terms overriding the exit-entitlement requirements, and terms inconsistent with the optional-services prohibition are void without any application being needed.
• Offences and infringements. Many obligations carry penalties, and Schedule 1 to the Regulations prescribes infringement offences and infringement penalties. Enforcement is a matter for the regulator, not the resident, but a complaint to Consumer Affairs Victoria is a real option.
• Village dispute procedure — sections 38M to 38Z. Every village must have a written dispute procedure with prescribed content, published on the operator's internet site and given to residents on request, with nominated contact persons, notice and recording requirements, and a requirement that a dispute not settled within 72 hours be recorded. Regulations 53 to 55 prescribe the records. Section 38U makes it an offence to take action against a person for giving notice of a village dispute.
• Conciliation — sections 38ZD onwards. The Act establishes a conciliation scheme administered by the Secretary, with applications, suitability assessment (regulation 56), conciliation conferences, no-resolution certificates (regulation 57) and recorded agreements (regulation 58), including enforcement of recorded agreements.
• VCAT. Where the Act confers jurisdiction, an application to VCAT is available. Identify the specific gateway relied on and the orders it permits.

For the procedural detail of these pathways, see our companion article on retirement village disputes and VCAT.

Modelling the Numbers Before You Sign

A checklist that stops at the documents is incomplete. Before signing, build a simple model and ask the operator to confirm the inputs in writing. Run it at three departure points — for example three years, seven years and fifteen years — and once on the assumption of death rather than a planned move.

Inputs to confirm in writing

1. the entry payment, and precisely what forms the base for percentage calculations;
2. the current maintenance charge, its components under section 38B, and the last five years of increases;
3. the optional services you expect to use and their current prices;
4. the deferred management fee percentages by year, the capping year, and the daily accrual method under regulation 34;
5. the capital gain and capital loss shares, and confirmation that the loss share does not exceed the gain share (section 26F(4));
6. the reinstatement or renovation position, read against sections 37D to 37H and, for an owner resident, section 26D(1);
7. the resale or reletting process, who conducts it, the marketing and agent costs, and recent actual resale periods in the village;
8. the exit-entitlement payment date under the contract, tested against the section 32I long-stop;
9. the capital maintenance fund balance and the capital maintenance plan; and
10. for an owner resident, owners-corporation fees, rates, insurance and any land tax, including for the period between vacant possession and sale.

Outputs to look at

• total cash out over the period, including entry payment, recurrent charges and optional services;
• cash back on exit at each departure point, after all deductions;
• the effective annual cost of occupation, which is the number to compare against alternatives;
• the worst-case outcome on a falling market, given the capital-loss share; and
• the cash-flow gap between departure and payment of the exit entitlement, and whether an advance under sections 32Q or 32R would be available to bridge it.

A worked example — hypothetical and simplified

The figures below are invented for illustration only. They are not statutory rates, industry benchmarks or typical market figures, and they assume a single, simplified fee structure. Real contracts differ, and not every contract contains each of these deductions.

Assumptions:

• entry payment: $650,000;
• deferred management fee: 5% of the entry payment for each year of occupation, capped at 30% (that is, the cap is reached after six years);
• assumed resale value of the unit on departure: $700,000;
• capital gain shared 50% resident / 50% operator;
• illustrative resale and marketing deduction permitted by the assumed contract: $17,500 (2.5% of the assumed resale value).

Capital gain: $700,000 − $650,000 = $50,000. Resident's 50% share = $25,000.

Departure after 4 years. Deferred management fee = 4 × 5% = 20% of $650,000 = $130,000. Exit entitlement = $650,000 (entry payment) + $25,000 (gain share) − $130,000 (deferred management fee) − $17,500 (resale and marketing) = $527,500.

Departure after 9 years. The fee has reached the 30% cap, so it stays at 30% of $650,000 = $195,000 rather than continuing to accrue. Exit entitlement = $650,000 + $25,000 − $195,000 − $17,500 = $462,500.

On the same assumptions, five further years of occupation cost $65,000 more in deferred management fee (the difference between 20% and 30% of the entry payment), which is one reason the capping year matters. Had the unit resold for less than the entry payment, a capital-loss share could reduce the entitlement instead — and section 26F(4) prohibits apportioning a higher share of capital loss than of capital gain.

Warning. This example is illustrative only. Actual outcomes depend on the particular contract, the tenure, the timing of departure and resale, the applicable statutory rules and the facts. Obtain your own legal and financial advice before signing, and ask the operator to model your contract's figures in writing.

Ask a financial adviser or accountant to review the model alongside legal advice on the documents. The legal question is what the contract permits; the financial question is whether the arrangement works over the likely period of occupation. Both need answering.

The Pre-Signing Checklist

Documents and disclosure

1. Signed information statement obtained — from the operator's website and as a dated copy, checked against regulations 11 and 12 and the section 19 signing and attestation requirements.
2. Information statement received with any targeted promotional material (section 22(4)), and within seven days of any request (section 22(2)).
3. Residence documents inspected on request within seven days (section 23).
4. Residence contract received at least 21 days before entry (section 24(1)); management contract, information statement, by-laws and other residence documents received at least 21 days before entry into the management contract (section 24(2)).
5. Village accounts, budget, capital maintenance plan and fund balance, and any owners-corporation documents obtained.

Form and terms

1. Contract is in the prescribed standard form — Form 4 in Schedule 2, Parts 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 for a residence contract and Parts 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6 for a management contract (regulations 19 and 21).
2. Prescribed provisions present (regulations 20 and 22), including the section 26X cooling-off period, signing and commencement dates and the parties' addresses for service.
3. No prohibited terms — undisclosed fees, owner-resident reinstatement clauses, or terms prohibited by regulation 23 (section 26D).
4. Every monetary obligation in the contract reconciled to the information statement.
5. No demand for a power of attorney or proxy appointment (sections 38C and 38D); no contracting out (section 26J).

Rights and timeframes

1. Conspicuous cooling-off notice located; seven business days from signing diarised; regulation 33 administration fee calculated.
2. Settling in period, if any, checked against section 26G — stated start and end dates, start after cooling off, capped payments, 14-day exit-entitlement rule — and the section 26H carve-outs noted.
3. Exit-entitlement payment date identified and tested against the section 32I long-stop.
4. Condition report arrangements confirmed for a non-owner resident, with the Form 1 report and the five-business-day return period (section 37J).
5. Reinstatement notice periods noted — 21 days, 90 days and 21 days under sections 37E to 37G.
6. Contract-check entitlements noted — yearly under section 26N and on request under section 26O, free in the circumstances in section 26P.

Money and estate

1. Financial model completed at multiple departure points, including death.
2. Capital gain and loss shares checked against section 26F(4).
3. Post-departure charge position understood — sections 38A and 38BC — and non-village outgoings identified separately.
4. Advance-payment pathway understood for a later move into care (sections 32Q to 32W, regulations 29, 30 and 40).
5. Will and enduring powers of attorney current and consistent with the village interest.
6. Independent legal advice obtained, and financial advice obtained, before signing.

Related Reading

This article is confined to the pre-signing review. The surrounding subjects are covered separately:

• Retirement Villages in Victoria: A Practical Guide — the framework, tenure models and resident rights across the whole lifecycle.
• Retirement Village Contracts Explained — how the standard clauses operate once the contract is on foot.
• Leaving a Retirement Village: Exit Fees and Resident Rights — the departure process and exit calculations.
• Retirement Village Refurbishment Disputes — contested reinstatement and refurbishment claims.
• Retirement Village Disputes and VCAT — dispute pathways, evidence and procedure.
• When a Retirement Village Resident Dies — the estate's position on death.

Frequently Asked Questions

Official Sources

• Retirement Villages Act 1986 (Vic) — current authorised consolidation on the Victorian Legislation website, including the disclosure, contract, contract-check, exit-entitlement, reinstatement, charges and dispute-resolution provisions cited above.
• Retirement Villages Amendment Act 2025 (Vic) — Act No. 19/2025, the amending Act that inserted most of the current provisions.
• Retirement Villages Regulations 2026 (Vic) — SR 25/2026, in operation from 1 May 2026; current authorised version incorporating the amendments made by the Retirement Villages Amendment (Standard Form Contracts) Regulations 2026 (Vic), SR 105/2026, which commenced on 7 July 2026. Contains the prescribed forms in Schedule 2, the infringement offences in Schedule 1 and the grace-period modifications in Schedule 3.
• Consumer Affairs Victoria — Retirement village reforms — the regulator's summary of the reforms, the 1 May 2026 commencement and the requirement to use the new standard-form contract from 1 September 2026.
• Consumer Affairs Victoria — Retirement villages — current guidance for residents and prospective residents, and the source for forms approved by the Director.
• Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal — application procedures and practice material for matters within VCAT's jurisdiction under the Act.
• Owners Corporations Act 2006 (Vic) — relevant where the village land is subdivided and an owners corporation is incorporated.
• Administration and Probate Act 1958 (Vic) — current authorised text, for the estate-administration provisions relevant on a resident's death.
• Supreme Court of Victoria — Wills and probate — the current requirements for obtaining a grant of representation.

How Parke Lawyers Can Help

Parke Lawyers acts for Victorian prospective residents, residents, families and attorneys on retirement village contracts under the Retirement Villages Act 1986 (Vic), through our Retirement Living & Aged Care team. We review the information statement and the proposed contract against the current prescribed form and prohibited terms, model the exit position, and raise issues with the operator while there is still leverage to fix them. Where a contract has already been signed, we advise on cooling off, rescission, contract checks and the dispute pathways.