With the commencement of the amendments to the Retirement Villages Act 1986 (Vic) (RV Act) fast approaching, we are writing to highlight several key timing considerations for operators issuing residence and management contracts to prospective residents.

Key contracting deadlines before 1 May 2026.

Given the mandatory 21-day pre-contract disclosure period under the RV Act:

• residents entering into contracts under the current legislative regime must be issued with their contract documentation no later than 8 April 2026; and
• residence contracts must be signed by both the resident and the owner and/or manager by 30 April 2026.

Any contracts entered into on or after 1 May 2026 will be subject to the new legislative framework introduced by the Retirement Villages Amendment Act 2025 (Vic) (new RV Act).

What changes from 1 May 2026

All new contracts issued from 1 May 2026 will need to comply with the new RV Act and forthcoming Regulations. Consequently, many aspects of your current operational processes and contract terms will need to be considered and updated including:

• prescribed disclosures under the new ‘Information Statement’;
• the allocation of costs of works on resident departure;
• provisions for capital maintenance and capital replacement frameworks;
• timing and manner of payment of a resident’s exit entitlement; and
• additional administrative requirements (including annual contract checks and premises condition reporting).

Regulations and standard form documents

Unfortunately, the Regulations that will contain must of the operational detail as to how the Act is to be administered, have not yet been released. The Regulations are expected to contain the prescribed form of Information Statement, template standard form contract, and condition report.

Our understanding is that the Minister for Consumer Affairs is expected to release the Regulations on Monday, 2 March 2026, however this date is yet to be confirmed. Once released, operators will need to move quickly to finalise compliant documentation for each village or asset.

Recommended actions now

• Review existing contract suites and disclosure material;
• Identify and document capital items and cost allocation practices;
• Review current service offerings under your current contract regime;
• Consider any structural or operational changes required for compliance; and
• Plan for transition to new contract documentation for use from 1 May 2026.

Early preparation will assist in managing the compressed timeframe once the Regulations are released.

How we can assist

We are currently assisting a number of operators with transition planning, contract updates, and implementation strategies.

Please contact us if you would like assistance preparing compliant documentation or managing the transition to the new regime.

This article was written by Jennifer Barrett, Partner and Louisa Dawson, Special Counsel.