Retirement village residents and their families will be worse off under National – waiting up to nine months to get their own money back after a resident leaves their village.

“New Zealanders are going backwards under National, and rather than help them get their own money back quickly when they leave a retirement village, the Government has announced a policy that leaves families and residents waiting too long and excludes the 56,000 people already living in retirement villages,” Labour’s seniors spokesperson Ingrid Leary said.

“National’s new deadline of nine months will apply only to occupation-right agreements signed after the new law takes effect, so current residents will be left behind.

“Labour will introduce legislation within our first 100 days requiring operators to pay residents or their estates 10 percent of what they are owed within five working days, with the balance paid within three months. Our law will cover existing residents as well as future residents.

“We have also provided for a targeted and transparent exemption where an operator can demonstrate genuine financial difficulty or a material risk to the viability of a village. That protects genuinely vulnerable villages without making every resident wait to protect large corporate operators.

“National has chosen to protect operators at residents’ expense. Labour is on the side of residents and their families.

“We cannot afford another three years of National,” Ingrid Leary said.