RRVV works to support retirement village residents in Victoria by:

• Defending the good features of retirement village living
• Assisting prospective residents when they are considering joining a retirement village
• Helping resolve resident problems and concerns.
• Providing an information base for all retirement village members.
• Promoting continuous improvement.
• Encouraging innovative industry development programs.

A committee of up to nine members supported by a network of resident liaison officers (village level coordinators) aids and supports our members.

RRVV has four primary activity streams:

• Member support
• Research
• Government relations
• Industry relations.

Member Support

RRVV devotes the greater part of its resources to member support.

This includes:

• Responding to Service Desk, telephone and e-mail queries and requests for help with problems (around 1,000 queries each year)
• Providing referral to legal/support services in cases where residents are in dispute with a retirement village operator or other residents
• Providing information concerning the development and/or operation of a retirement village Residents’ Committee
• Publishing four newsletters a year (members can log in to access the current and past newsletters under Member Resources)
• Holding two primary member events a year
• Visiting villages
• Advocating on behalf of residents making complaints
• Liaising regularly with retirement village owners and operators.
• Provision of the website www.rrvv.org.au as a service to members and a source of information for people interested in retirement villages.

Research

RRVV research explores retirement village satisfaction, interactions with management, problems encountered, disputes, access to information and residents’ participation in decision making.

Government Relations

In recent years, RRVV has lodged formal submissions to:

• The Department of Consumer Affairs on Retirement Village Owners Corporations
• Local Government Victoria, Review of the Local Government Act 1989
• The Review undertaken by the Victorian Government into the Retirement Villages Act 1986
• The Review undertaken by the Victorian Government into Embedded Networks.
• The Legal and Social Issues Committee of the Parliament of Victoria on retirement housing
• The Inquiry into Sustainability and Operational Challenges of Victoria’s Rural and Regional Councils on rates Justice
• The Department of Consumer Affairs on Options for reform of the Owners Corporations Act 2006.

The Executive of the RRVV meets frequently with Victorian government ministers and staff to further their understanding of matters of concern to residents of retirement villages in Victoria.

Industry Relations

Members of the RRVV committee meet frequently with retirement village owner operator representatives and industry groups to further the understanding of resident issues and to try to facilitate improved outcomes for retirement village residents.

Committee Meetings

Members of the RRVV Committee meet monthly to discuss and progress their work in all the above areas. The minutes of RRVV committee meetings are available to RRVV members upon request.