New governance requirements for retirement village operators effective 1 September 2026

The Stage 1 Retirement Village reforms commence on 1 September 2026.

While most operators have focused on mandatory exit entitlement payments, Stage 1 also introduces a suite of prescribed governance obligations that require documented policies, registers, and procedures to be operational from day one.

What has happened

Western Australia’s retirement village laws have been fundamentally rewritten. The Retirement Villages Regulations 2026 (yet to be released in final form) prescribe detailed conduct rules covering how operators run their villages, train their staff and interact with residents. These rules take effect on 1 September 2026 as part of Stage 1 of a five-stage rollout running through to July 2028.

What it means

From 1 September (in just 7 weeks!), operators must have in place a range of mandatory governance measures. These include an Elder Abuse Prevention strategy, a Conflict of Interest policy and register, a Staff Training and Competency Framework, Complaint Handling and Dispute Resolution procedures and marketing compliance materials. None of these had a counterpart under the previous regulatory framework.

Who is affected?

Every operator of a retirement village in Western Australia. The conduct rules apply to operators and their employees, agents, and other persons acting on behalf of operators. Some obligations (particularly behavioural standards) also apply to residents.

Key risks

The governance measures required under the conduct rules are substantive.  Many are mandatory and have prescribed requirements:

• The Elder Abuse Prevention strategy requires identification matrices and response procedures. The strategy needs to be accessible to staff and displayed in accordance with the Regulations.
• A Conflict-of-Interest register requires a disclosure framework, mitigation measures and resident access procedures that staff understand and can follow.
• Complaint Handling procedures must distinguish between general complaints and statutory “retirement village disputes”, which trigger a separate legislative process.
• Staff Training policies require defined competency standards for each role, assessment processes and record-keeping that demonstrates compliance.
• Marketing materials must carry prescribed disclaimers where they reference residential care homes.

What to do now

These documents require development time, internal consultation and operational embedding. Operators who have not already commenced development and implementation of these documents should be doing so now.

Operators should audit their current policy suite against the Regulations and identify gaps. Where documents do not yet exist, they need to be developed and embedded into operations before 1 September.

What comes next

Stage 2 follows quickly on the heels of Stage 1 and commences on 1 December 2026, introducing modification plans, renovation and reinstatement processes and property condition reports.

How can we help?

Lavan has developed a suite of compliance documents and tools specifically designed to support operators through Stage 1 and beyond.

For a discussion about preparing for the new reforms, contact Amber Crosthwaite at amber.crosthwaite@lavan.com.au or Adri Lock at adri.lock@lavan.com.au.

Disclaimer

The information contained in this publication does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. You should seek legal advice in relation to any particular matter you may have before relying or acting on this information. The Lavan team are here to assist.