In late 2024, journalist Adele Ferguson wrote an article for the ABC that continued her assault on the retirement villages industry, breathlessly announcing that in retirement villages there are “no pets without permission”! She stated that many resident contracts “reveal a pattern of control” and “demand approval for every kind of pet, barring a fish in a tank”.
The slant of the article was that retirement villages are overly restrictive, with excessive rules and regulations.
Is this correct?
Well, yes and no.
Retirement villages do have quite of few rules in their contracts, and even more in the attached by-laws or village rules. You can learn more about village rules HERE.
However, if you stand back and imagine a retirement village as a community of people, all around the same age and stage in life and all wanting much the same thing in life, then it stands to reason that the village operator would want to establish some rules and regulations in order to ensure this way of life is protected. Hence the village rules, sometimes also known as by-laws.
Village rules are not unduly restrictive and are designed to protect the peace and quiet enjoyment of residents in the community as a whole. They are not dissimilar to the rules you would find in an apartment complex, caravan park or holiday units, or in fact anywhere you find a group of people co-habitating together.
Do village rules restrict personal freedoms? Yes.
Do village rules aim to protect the community as a whole? Also yes.
Take pets for example: Retirement village residents require permission from the village operator to keep a pet. This is because some pets are simply inappropriate for community living in a retirement village and the village operator wants to maintain the right to reject such animals. Or perhaps the resident is living in a unit that is not appropriate for the type of pet. Examples of inappropriate pets:
- Active dogs that require space to run around;
- Big dogs with loud barks; and
- Young, untrained puppies.
Part of the permission process requires the resident to have a plan in the event that they are taken to hospital or can no longer take care of the animal, as well as ensuring the pet is vaccinated and micro-chipped.
Typically a pet licence is issued to the resident by the village operator, specific to the animal, which can be revoked and the pet removed from the premises if it or the owner breaches the pet guidelines. The guidelines are predominately concerned with making sure the pet doesn’t annoy other residents and the owner cleans up after it. Village operators must also be cognisant of the welfare of the animal in the event that the resident declines in health and is no longer capable of looking after it.
The last word
In my experience, retirement village residents appreciate tight pet rules. It protects their rights to peace and quiet enjoyment and provides the village operator with scope to address yapping dogs or owners that leave doggy do-do on the grass.
I have personally had to deal with ignorant residents who thought it was their god-given right to let kitty out at night to hunt native animals and spray urine over their neighbours’ gardens. Furthermore, when given the opportunity to dilute restrictive pet rules, village residents have always voted to retain them.
Adele Ferguson would never report this side of the story however, as it doesn’t fit with her narrative.