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Purpose of a charge or notice on retirement village land
The Retirement Villages Act 1986 requires that:
- a charge is registered over retirement village land as security for the ingoing contributions made by people entering the village
- the land title has a notice that the land is used for a retirement village.
How to extinguish a charge or cancel a notice
You can extinguish a charge or cancel a notice by applying to the Director of Consumer Affairs Victoria, by written agreement, or by Supreme Court order.
Application to the Director of Consumer Affairs Victoria
You can apply to the Director of Consumer Affairs Victoria to extinguish a charge and/or cancel a notice over all or part of the land, when that land:
- is no longer used for retirement village purposes
- has never been used for retirement village purposes.
Written agreement or Supreme Court order
A notice can be cancelled by an agreement in writing signed by all the retirement village residents to whom the notice relates.
A charge can be extinguished by either:
- written agreement, signed by all the residents of the village whose refundable in-going contributions are secured by the charge
- Supreme Court order.
The Registrar of Titles (who is responsible for managing land titles in Victoria), when presented with such an agreement or order, may:
- delete any record of the charge or notice
- record extinguishment of the charge or cancellation of the notice.
Before applying to the Director of Consumer Affairs Victoria
- Only a retirement village owner can submit an application.
- Use the application form and notices approved by the Director of Consumer Affairs Victoria.
- You can serve notice on current and former residents before lodging the formal application.
- Current and former residents have 60 days from when the notice is served to make a submission to the Director of Consumer Affairs Victoria. Owners should provide the Resident(s) submission to Director (PDF, 102KB) to people who want to make a submission.
Contact us before:
- making an application relating to only part of the land, as these can be complex
- changing the wording of forms or using documents not approved by the Director of Consumer Affairs Victoria
- making an application if you cannot contact former residents whose entitlements have not been paid, or their legal representatives.
Making an application
To apply:
- complete the Application for extinguishment of charge and/or cancellation of notice form (PDF, 165KB)
- serve individual notices on:
- notify all other former residents by publishing an Approved newspaper advertisement (DOC, 25KB) in a newspaper circulating in Victoria
- submit the application with supporting documents, including a:
- statutory declaration that the application details are correct
- certified copy of the register search statement of the relevant certificate of title, available from the Land Titles Office
- full company search extract from the Australian Securities & Investments Commission, if the application is made by a company
- copy of an approved newspaper advertisement notifying former residents of the application
- copy of the approved notices issued to residents and former residents.
We will not process incomplete applications and may seek more information or evidence to support the application.
How long it takes to process an application
We will not process an application until the 60-day period for resident submissions expires. Complex applications relating to part only of the land on a title may take longer to process.
If the application is approved, the retirement village owner will be notified and a declaration published in the Victorian Government Gazette.
The owner can then submit a copy of this declaration to the Registrar of Titles, to make the necessary changes to the land title.