Retirement Village/Apartment/Unit

Retirement Villages Vs Buying an Apartment or Unit

Apartment, Unit, Independent

One of the things I dislike about apartment living is the sharing of lifts or common spaces with strangers. If you own an apartment then you have no way of knowing if the apartment next door to you is being used as a rental or worse as an Airbnb. 

Airbnbs are great when you are on holiday or want a weekend in the city. You can go out, have a few drinks, and Uber it back to the Airbnb and probably bring your friends back with you. You can jump in the spa, hang out on the balcony, and generally have a good time

Airbnb does have a list of rules and restrictions that guests are supposed to comply with. https://airbtics.com/airbnb-regulations-in-melbourne/

Your short-term guests may be fined through VCAT. Apparently, if you have 3 breaches then you may find VCAT says you are unable to run your Airbnb there for a period of time.

Airbnb operators often lease apartments with short-term accommodation in mind. During covid, amongst our many lockdowns in Melbourne, some operators abandoned their leases, occasionally leaving furniture, etc behind (industry hearsay from a variety of agents in Southbank and Docklands). 

Not so great if you are an owner-occupier in the building and have an Airbnb on either side of you. Different people week in, week out, different people in your life, and parking next to you. There is no village atmosphere here. It’s all living with strangers. Strangers on holiday.

Renters generally are lovely people but they don’t have a huge financial, vested interest in the building other than they live there. It’s an easier and cheaper option to move as a renter than as an owner. No stamp duty when you move in or out of a rental. You will have a bond to pay, rent up front, and removalist costs but no stamp duty or agents or legal fees. 

Retirement Village

Retirement Villages these days may be vertical as well as horizontal. In the past, Retirement Villages were quite spread out and often featured a central Community Centre and bowling green. Some have pools, men’s shed, podiatrists, hairdressers, libraries and a large multi-purpose space. Today however, retirement villages may look like any other modern apartment building.

As our baby boomers downsize they want to stay local, they want to be close to the activities they are used to and downsizing may not necessarily mean in house size but garden. Apartments within a retirement village structure makes wonderful sense.

That’s the joy of a Retirement village – you are living in a Village. You get to know everyone, there is community and well-being spaces plus activities that you may or may not choose to participate in. Everyone is an owner-occupier. 

The bonus is that you can go away and someone else will look after your place externally. You can travel, visit the children/grandchildren, and not have a mountain of maintenance to do on your return.

You are secure, you have company when you want it, happy hours, facilities that you wouldn’t be able to necessarily afford, and organised excursions to fabulous, interesting places.

Retirement Villages have their own legislation. This was revised a few years back, to make for a fairer system. You will still have Deferred Management Fees, and Service Fees and need to understand the contract you are signing. Your children also need to understand that you have signed a Contract when you were in sound mind, it was your decision and they can’t harp on about unfairness twenty years down the track. Harsh, but in my experience, it’s the children who are the most wary of retirement villages. Concern over their inheritance has been stated as why mum or dad shouldn’t buy in a village and concern that mum and dad or mum or dad are going to be ripped off.

To combat this wariness, ensure that your solicitor specialises in Retirement Villages and doesn’t just handle retirement village contracts once a year. Find out, research, help mum and dad make good choices but don’t take away their right to do what they like with their money and the rest of their lives.

If you would like to chat further about options then please reach out, your initial MEET-UP is free and may provide the answer you need.