Residents of retirement village told to pay up

By CATHERINE MASTERS

Elderly residents in a retirement village have been told they must pay extra fees of up to $640 a week if they want to stay in their homes.

The managers of Culverden Retirement Village in Mangere say the fees are the result of a law change, which requires higher standards and has made their business too expensive to run.

But the Government and other retirement homes are sceptical, saying other homes have not had to raise their fees in the same way.

Age Concern is also questioning a backdated $340 a week "administration fee" charged by the village, which it says is far higher than the $75 to $140 range charged elsewhere in Auckland.

Culverden residents are seeking legal advice. They say they thought they could live in their units for the rest of their lives but are now being told that if they want to stay, they must pay fees they cannot afford.

The owner of the village, Ian Anderson, would not speak to the Herald, but Culverden manager John Eadie said the residents had a "tough choice" to make.

Compliance costs under the new Retirement Villages Act - such as paying for a statutory supervisor - had made it too expensive to run the business as a retirement village.

The village had therefore become a care facility with a 92-bed geriatric hospital and a rest-home.

Residents could sell their units back to Culverden and would be allowed to live in them for as long as they were able.

But they would be charged a new care charge which, depending on their health and circumstances, would cost $95 to $640 a week.

The other option was to continue to own their units - but if they chose this they would have to meet the extra compliance costs and pay $200 to $300 a week extra on top of current weekly fees.

"We have to ask for a decision. While the final decision is the residents', we recommend that they sell to us as this is the better option."

The residents, however, say they signed up to live in a retirement village, not a rest-home, and do not want the rules to change.

Huco Sliedrecht, elder abuse and neglect co-ordinator for Age Concern Counties Manukau, questions the fees and various deductions used in reaching settlement offers for the units.

Included in deductions is a back-dated administration fee amounting in some cases to tens of thousands of dollars.

A letter signed by Ian Anderson and given last week to some of those refusing to sign the new care offer asked for a cheque for just over $3000 to be forwarded by July 9 for the period April 1 to June 30 based on estimated costs.

He also asks them to amend their automatic payment authority to $340.86 a week "which is tomake payments on account forthe costs from July 1. We must advise that you should not ignore this letter and you must makepayment of the monies soughton account of these costs."

Mr Sliedrecht says the average weekly administration and other costs in the Auckland area for retirement villages are between $75 and $140 a week.

"What makes Culverden so special that Culverden management can claim between 581 per cent and 311 per cent rise in price to stay in this retirement village?"

The Minister for Senior Citizens, Ruth Dyson, said she was monitoring the situation closely.

The claim by Culverden that compliance costs were an issue was the first - and only - complaint of its nature she had heard from retirement villages, the minister said.

The new legislation was worked through with the Retirement Village Association.

"These aren't complaints that anyone else is registering."

Association chief executive Edward Richards said Culverden was not a member. Most members had welcomed the new law.