4 March 2002

Media release – Justice and Electoral

Public comment invited on the Retirement Villages Bill

Parliament's Justice and Electoral Committee is inviting public submissions on the Retirement Villages Bill. The closing date for submissions is Friday 26 April 2002.

The bill places a series of obligations on all retirement village operators to protect the interests of residents under a readily understandable legal framework, including:

 registration with the Registrar of Companies
 complying with a Government-approved industry code of practice
 disclosing in a standard format all essential information on retirement village ownership, management and operational procedures, terms and conditions of residence, and charging systems
 having a disputes procedure.

The Retirement Commissioner will have a monitoring and reporting function on the effect of the legislation, and undertake a public education role.

As well as being of immediate interest for the 20 000 people now living in New Zealand’s 300 retirement villages, the bill will affect the rights of future generations of residents to come.

More detailed information on the bill can be found at: www.clerk.parliament.govt.nz/programme/committees/submissions/jervb.html

The bill will be available at: www.msd.govt.nz/keyinitiatives

Notes concerning submissions to the Justice and Electoral Select Committee

Copies of the bill can also be purchased from Bennetts Government Bookshops or ordered from any bookseller.

The committee prefers 20 copies of each submission. Those wishing to include any information of a private or personal nature in a submission should first discuss this with the clerk of the committee, as submissions are usually released to the public by the committee. Those wishing to appear before the committee to speak to their submissions should state this clearly and provide a daytime telephone contact number. For further guidance on making a submission, the publication Making a Submission to a Parliamentary Select Committee can be found at www.clerk.parliament.govt.nz.

Submissions should be addressed to:

Wendy Proffitt
Justice and Electoral Committee Clerk
Parliament House
WELLINGTON

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