Manufactured home estates and residential parks provide a much needed source of self-care retirement housing that is not always available in the "Bricks and Mortar" sectors of the traditional housing estates market.
Self-care housing estates for seniors provide a wide range of services, facilities and lifestyle choices, including leisure and recreational opportunities, that are not restricted to defined "retirement villages" but extend to communities united by age and lifestyle choices.
Compared with legally defined retirement villages, manufactured homes estates and residential parks offer a number of significant advantages including:
self-care retirees who own their own home.
no deferred management fee on departure.
the cost of new homes are generally lower than comparable retirement village self-care units.
no legal or hidden costs.
rent assistance reduces weekly fees for eligible pensioners.
no stamp duty, no entry fees, no exit fees
Importantly in the manufactured home estates and residential parks the well accepted concept of home ownership continues into retirement, as distinct from the variety of legal and financial arrangements offered by self-care retirement villages.
Quite often, strata and company title, loan and licence agreements are not well understood by seniors, which can lead to confusion and stress when trying to understand who is responsible within the retirement village context.
For those who decide to leave a manufactured home estate and residential park at a later stage, the only deduction from the sale price will be the normal real estate scale of commission if ‘village management’ acts in the sale of the home.
This is significantly less than the deferred management fees applied under many retirement village contracts, where a deduction can be as high as 50% of the original contribution as well as a significant proportion of the capital gain. This difference can amount to tens of thousands of dollars to a departing resident or their estate.
Manufactured homes and residential parks put high quality homes within the reach of seniors. It is often the case that a single senior lives in an older owner-occupied dwelling which only returns land value when sold and thus higher priced self-care retirement village units are often out of their financial reach.
New manufactured homes offer these people a chance to buy and live in a standard of home they may never have enjoyed in the past which is an advantage that has rarely been effectively promoted in the current market.
Manufactured home estates and residential parks can also work for those who currently own a substantial residence. On sale of their existing property asset, the available funds can finance their new home and free up money to invest in their new retirement lifestyle.
For those eligible for a pension, site fees in manufactured homes and residential parks almost always mean qualification for rental assistance from the Government. (there is a qualifying amount of pension above which rent assistance is paid. This figure is adjusted quarterly and up-to-date information can be obtained from Centrelink)
Rent assistance for site fees does not apply to those who own a self care unit in a retirement village. For example a ground rental of say $120 per week can be reduced through Centrelink Rental Assistance to $72 per week.
Although current NSW legislation does not fully recognize the significance of this retirement housing option, manufactured home estates and residential parks will continue to play a very important role in the self-care retirement industry.
While still within the Manufactured Homes (Residential Parks) Act 2003, manufactured homes and residential parks provide a large percentage of elderly citizens with high quality housing and comfortable retirement lifestyles.
Residential parks include caravan parks, manufactured home estates, and relocatable home parks. Permanent residents of residential parks are protected by the Act with residents owning their own dwelling. However the land upon which their dwelling is placed is ‘rented’ (i.e. not owned) which provides a substantial reduction in the initial delivery of the home.
Residential parks differ in quality and size. Although residents have similar rights and obligations to tenants under the Residential Tenancies Act, in reality the manager and/or village owner has considerable power over every aspect of a resident’s life (from roads and water to access to phones and newspapers).
However it became evident from the research that the success of any estate relies heavily upon a robust community being developed which provides some measure of balance. The running of the community affairs rests entirely with the residents, an aspect which is a key motivator for choosing this style of living as it maintains ‘lifestyle independence’.
