The survey, which was commissioned by the Residents of Retirement Villages of Victoria (RRVV) Inc and received nearly 2,000 responses, showed over 400 new residents reported major issues.

These included complicated or poorly written contracts; delays in access to the units/apartments; condition of the unit/apartment on moving in; and availability of facilities stated in the contract.

Of these cases, 170 issues were not resolved before the residents moved in and were considered unlikely to be fixed in the short-term.

The project, which was conducted by the National Ageing Research Institute (NARI), also found one-third of respondents didn’t know if their retirement village had a resolution process in place for disputes.

The researchers say the study highlights the need for retirement village managers to receive training in communicating more effectively with residents and in resolving disputes.

“All villages should have dispute resolution processes and ensure this is highlighted to new residents as they enter the retirement village,” they wrote. “Procedures [also] need to be in place for management to ensure that matters are dealt with in a timely manner.”