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Senior Homes · Guide 2 of 5 · The long turn

When you leave a retirement village, how long until you are paid

It depends on the state, and usually on the earliest of several days the Act lists: a day in the contract, a few days after a new resident pays or moves in, or an outer limit. Those outer limits run from 6 months (Tasmania, the ACT for non-registered interest holders, and NSW for non-registered interest holders, or sooner if the contract says so) through 12 months (Victoria, for contracts from 1 May 2026, and Western Australia, where residents who left before 1 September 2026 are covered separately) and 12 months plus 30 business days (South Australia, where some residents who moved out or gave notice before 2 February 2026 stay under the old rule) to 18 months (Queensland).

General information, not legal or financial advice. What you receive, and when, also depends on your contract; your state’s consumer regulator, linked at the foot of this page, is the place to check.

New South Wales

Two clocks: the refund, and the exit entitlement order

Section 181 of the NSW Act covers former occupants who are not registered interest holders. NSW Fair Trading puts their timing simply: refundable money within 14 days after the unit is re-sold or re-occupied, and if it is not, the refund after 6 months from moving out, unless the contract says otherwise. The Act lets a contract set an earlier date, not a later one.

NSW Fair Trading says the payment of exit entitlements normally depends on the premises selling and another resident entering the village. Section 182AB covers former occupants who are or were registered interest holders in their premises and have not had any of their exit entitlement paid as an accommodation payment under section 182AG. It also covers a former occupant who has received a 182AG accommodation payment, but only if the premises have not sold within 2 years of first entering the aged care facility the payment relates to. If the premises are not sold within the prescribed period, a former occupant the section covers can ask the Secretary for an exit entitlement order directing the operator to pay, provided the agreed valuation was worked out at least 30 days before the application. For a former occupant who has received a 182AG accommodation payment, the period is 2 years from entering aged care after leaving the premises for good, and the 40-day start below does not apply. For everyone else, the period is a longer one if the Secretary has approved it under section 182AE, and otherwise the one clause 46 of the Retirement Villages Regulation 2025 sets:

  1. 6 months for a village in the Greater Sydney Region, the City of Newcastle or the City of Wollongong;
  2. 12 months otherwise.

NSW Fair Trading says the period starts 40 days after the first of three events: the premises are first advertised for sale, the former resident leaves for good and returns all keys, or the former resident gives written notice of staying on while the premises are for sale. Residents in strata schemes, company title and community title are excluded from these provisions.

Victoria

Section 32I, for contracts from 1 May 2026

Whoever is liable to pay an exit entitlement must pay it no later than the earlier of:

  1. the day worked out under the retirement village contracts;
  2. a day agreed with the resident;
  3. 12 months after the resident permanently vacates.

The penalty is 60 penalty units for a natural person and 300 for a body corporate.

Section 66(1) says the Division holding section 32I does not apply to contracts in force immediately before the commencement day of the Retirement Villages Amendment Act 2025. Consumer Affairs Victoria puts it in plain terms: the 12-month limit is for contracts signed on or after 1 May 2026. The guide to Victoria’s 2026 reforms sets out the dates.

Queensland

Section 63: the earliest of four days

The scheme operator must pay the exit entitlement on or before the earliest of:

  1. the day the residence contract requires;
  2. 14 days after the settlement day, when the sale of the right to reside settles;
  3. 18 months after the termination date, or a later day the tribunal fixes under section 171A;
  4. where the right to reside ended under section 53(3)(d), 14 days after an agreed resale value is set under section 60.

The maximum penalty is 540 penalty units. If the former resident has died, section 63(4) makes each due day the later of that day and 14 days after the operator is shown the probate or letters of administration.

Western Australia

Section 29: the earliest of five dates

Under the Act as at 1 September 2026, an operator must pay an exit entitlement on or before the earliest of:

  1. the date in the residence contract;
  2. 7 days after someone else, with the operator’s consent, moves into the premises the resident permanently vacated;
  3. a date agreed between the operator and the resident, or the person the entitlement is payable to;
  4. 12 months after the resident permanently vacated the premises;
  5. for a contract the Tribunal terminated, 10 days after the date it fixed for vacating.

If the resident has given the operator an extension in writing, payment is due the day after the extended period ends instead, unless the resident revokes it, which section 29(2) allows if done more than 3 months before the extension ends; section 29(1)(b) then sets the day. The penalty is a fine of $20 000.

The rule does not run while the operator holds a relevant extension or exemption under Division 4, which the Commissioner for Consumer Protection must approve. Consumer Protection WA keeps a separate section of its exit entitlements page for residents who left before 1 September 2026; read it there.

South Australia

Section 27: 12 months after a 30-business-day period

The changes to section 27 that shorten the time for payment apply to all residents, whenever they signed, under new laws that started on 2 February 2026. The previous section 27 still applies to a resident who, before 2 February 2026, moved out of the village or gave the operator notice under section 27(2)(b)(ii).

Where the contract pays an exit entitlement once its own conditions are met, the resident may recover it as a debt from the operator when:

  1. those conditions are fulfilled; or
  2. 12 months have passed since the end of the relevant period, which is 30 business days starting the first business day after vacant possession; or
  3. the operator agrees to pay it.

Once it is recoverable, the operator must take all reasonable steps to pay within 10 business days, or within 10 business days of receiving payee details it asked for. The maximum penalty is $10 000.

SA.GOV.AU notes the two ways the outer limit falls away: the resident chooses to wait until the residence is relicensed, or SACAT grants the operator more time for special circumstances.

Tasmania and the ACT

Six-month limits

Tasmania. Consumer Affairs Tasmania says the operator must refund the part of your ingoing contribution you are entitled to within the first six months after you leave.

ACT, section 238, for former occupants who were not registered interest holders: the operator must refund any ingoing contribution due under the village contract no later than the earliest of:

  1. the day stated in the village contract;
  2. a day agreed between operator and former occupant;
  3. 14 days after the operator receives full payment from an incoming resident;
  4. 14 days after the operator enters a residential tenancy agreement with an incoming tenant;
  5. 14 days after someone takes up residence with the operator’s consent;
  6. if the ACAT ended the contract, 1 month after it ended;
  7. if the former occupant left after notice that the operator would apply to the ACAT to end the contract, 1 month after vacant possession;
  8. otherwise, 6 months after vacant possession.

Missing it is a strict liability offence with a maximum of 50 penalty units.

If a deadline passes, the guide to disputes names each state’s tribunal. The aged care guide covers early payments toward aged care, and the first-days guide covers leaving while settling in.