RETIREMENT villages owner Aveo has been in damage control all week after allegations from several residents aired on the ABC that they had been subject to extortion, exploitation and lack of care.

Aveo owns two villages in the Tweed - Mountain View at Murwillumbah and Aveo Banora Point - which house 478 residents.

The company maintains: "We've always put our residents first".

Monica Johnson, a resident at Mountain View for 12 years, spoke out on Monday's Four Corners program about health problems she believes are made worse by mould in her unit.

Four Corners alleged that Aveo had taken four years to respond to Mrs Johnson's health complaints after her doctor started writing letters to them.

She hopes her complaints aired publicly will "fix up" that problem and others.

"I thought I did all right - I could have said a lot more but I didn't," she said this week.

"You get to the stage where you have to do something.

"Most people are saying 'well done'. I went shopping at Tweed on Wednesday and I was getting pats on the back."

The Johnsons had paid $136,000 for the unit, and an offer from Aveo to buy back would have left them with $52,000.

"Even if they take every penny off you, they'll do it," Mrs Johnson said.

In a written response, Aveo said: "The performance of the unit price growth and sales rates at the Mountain View community has been disappointing for both residents and Aveo.

"The unit may be overpriced, not of a standard that meets current market expectations or there is another issue such as no car park available or the resident still resides in the unit."

Aveo executive director and CEO Geoff Grady told the Tweed Daily News it was inevitable that the recent negative media coverage would hurt the company's brand.

"However, our most immediate concern is our residents. Many of our residents are incredibly upset at how Aveo, our staff and their communities have been portrayed," he said.

"The vast majority of Aveo residents are happy with their choice to move into a retirement village and find the staff to be caring, thoughtful, respectful and diligent.

"The care and wellbeing of our residents has always, and will always, come first for Aveo.

"Of course, there are times any company could do better and we continue to strive to be the best we can be.

"Assertions that our staff are too lazy to check on residents in need, that we maliciously try to push residents out of our communities, or that we are simply trying to take our residents for every penny they have, is simply untrue.

"All our contracts are compliant with industry standards and subject to the various state retirement villages acts and other legislation."

Aveo now owns and operates 89 retirement villages across Australia with a total of 11,014 units and more than 13,00 residents.

National Seniors chief advocate Ian Henschke said the Four Corners/Fairfax Media program and other news reports had shown the sector was in dire need of a makeover to overcome piecemeal state laws that left older people locked into increasing fees and charges, including exit fees.

He said a simple, standard, fair, universal contract and a commissioner to oversee any complaints were clearly needed.

"Many people buy into retirement villages expecting to have autonomy and security in their later years," Mr Henschke said.

"Instead, more people are being faced with unaffordable increases to ongoing fees and charges and reduced service standards, causing them a great deal of worry and, at times, fear and a sense of persecution.

"Anyone going into a retirement village needs to seek legal advice before they sign a contract."

National Seniors recommends the following for more consumer information:

CHOICE article: The key financial risks of moving to a retirement village

NSW Government Fair Trading: Retirement villages

Australian Competition & Consumer Commission: Retirement homes

The Aged-Care Rights Service

Aveo executive director and CEO Geoff Grady responds to questions from the Tweed Daily News:

Is the ABC program content likely to damage the Aveo brand and affect retirement villages in Tweed, at Banora Point and Murwillumbah?

I think it's inevitable that press coverage of this nature, whether an accurate representation of our business or not, is going to hurt our brand and name.

Many of our residents are incredibly upset at how Aveo, our staff and their communities have been portrayed. The vast majority of Aveo residents are happy with their choice to move into a retirement village and find the staff to be caring, thoughtful, respectful and diligent.

How has the company responded to the allegations?

We initially responded to 29 questions that we were asked by ABC & Fairfax. Much of our response was omitted from the articles and 4 Corners program. However, in particular:

• The care and wellbeing of our resident has always, and will always come first for Aveo. Of course, there are times any company could do better and we continue to strive to be the best we can be. Assertions that our staff are too lazy to check on residents in need, that we maliciously try to push residents out of our communities, or that we are simply trying to take our residents for every penny they have, is simply untrue.

With reference to the fees charged in our communities, the reality has been glossed over. There are three main kinds of fees:

• Weekly/monthly recurring fees: Aveo does not make a profit from these, and the resident committee within an Aveo community have the say as to what is or isn't included within these fees. They are used to support the running of the village operationally and cover things like building maintenance and insurance, staffing, cleaning of communal facilities, up-keep of communal gardens etc.

Exit fee: The deferred management fee, or exit fee, is essentially the retirement village operator's profit. We are not allowed to profit from the ongoing service charges and generally our upfront prices are lower, making our units attractive to buy. It's this fee that most media outlets find difficult to understand. Without it, the initial price of a unit would be more

• expensive and many residents couldn't afford to live in a retirement community.
• Fees for services: Particularly in our independent living communities, our residents have made the lifestyle choice to be independent. We respect that choice and don't enforce any services upon them. On the occasion that they require some extra help that is over and above what is included in the weekly/monthly fees for the community, there needs to be a recovery of the costs, and that's what these fees cover.

Will Aveo move to address the complaints?

In terms of individual resident complaints, Aveo has been directly and actively engaged with a number of residents to understand　and address any concerns they may have. Aveo has been engaged with these residents for some time and will continue to engage with them personally and directly. Specific issues concerning individual residents are private and Aveo will not publicly discuss any resident's specific circumstances. At the recent Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry Aveo residents lodged 22 of the 766 submissions. Aveo is working with Property Council of Australia on the recommendations of the Inquiry.

Any other comments?

My other comment would be that we've always put our residents first.

Prompted by customer feedback, over two years ago we changed our contract to remove scenarios where units will go unsold for years and a resident's family may be required to deal with a problematic sale process at a time that they're already stressed by a parent having passed away or requiring higher care. To that end, we've implemented a unit buy back promise in our contract which guarantees the sale of a unit after 6 months (NSW & TAS) or 12 months (other states) of the resident leaving the community. We also pay unit refurbishment costs, sales commissions and marketing costs. In essence we've removed the variability of old contracts, giving customers the certainty of how much money they'll receive from the sale of the unit and when they'll receive it. This is what customers have asked us to do and we responded, more than two years ago. Long before any Fairfax and ABC investigation commenced. It's a shame this wasn't reported more clearly.

- LEADING seniors' advocacy group, COTA Australia, is calling on the Federal Government to consider implementing a national regulatory system for retirement providers, in the wake of the Fairfax/Four Corners program on issues in the retirement village industry.