LEADING ORGANISATIONS FOR older people and renters have warned of an “impending crisis” around retirement communities, as they urged safeguards for the burgeoning sector.

Age Action and Threshold have outlined that both are seeing people enter into retirement communities believing they are in a secure tenancy for the rest of their days, only to find they are actually in a “precarious” situation.

Part of the issue cited is the uncertainty around what a retirement community is, and how it’s defined.

Unlike nursing homes, retirement villages are for people who are less in need of medical care. They can often be popular options for people who are unable to buy or who wish to downsize after selling their house.

Both Age Action and Threshold fear that the sector will only get bigger due to the housing crisis, with the number of renters over the age of 65 having doubled since 2011.

They told The Journal that they are witnessing a growing number of retirement community residents come into their office in the past year after experiencing difficulties with their landlord owner.

In particular, retirees often end up with weaker rights when compared to more common renting contracts, with Age Action pointing to a “lack of regulation” on the issue.

This is partly because the retirement sector is not covered in legislation that governs the ‘typical’ private rental sector.

Age Action’s head of advocacy Camille Loftus said it was especially a worry as the number of people unable to buy a home increases over the coming years.

‘Gap’ in the sector

There is “definitely a gap” being seen in the retirement home sector, according to Threshold’s national advocacy manager Ann-Marie O’Reilly, who said it was partly due to Ireland not having a definition of what the term means in law.

O’Reilly said that one way to start fixing this would be to “explicitly make clear” that residents of retirement homes are protected by the Residential Tenancies Act, as it does other renters.

In terms of defining a retirement village, one such example may be that setting out in law that it’s a place where a health worker checks in once a week on residents.

Another option is to consider whether there is a nursing home on the site and support from staff included for residents, according to Age Action.

“Based on from what we’ve looked at ourselves so far, to get a grip and understand the landscape, I would at this time say that
we need to know what that term means, because is it a case that any property or group of properties can be bought and classed as retirement homes,” O’Reilly said.

In this instance, O’Reilly added, it’s “not clear what rights residents have” as residents.

Different contracts

Loftus, of Age Action, said they had seen an increasing number of people contact them last year over problems they faced with their landlord in retirement communities.

“We have seen examples of people in what is sheltered housing or supportive living retirement facilities discovering that actually they don’t have the rights of tenants that tenants do and are not covered by those sort of arrangements,” Loftus said.

In one case, the organisation saw a resident had a clause in their contract that read where the landlord “forms the view” that a tenant requires long-term care, they can service an eviction notice stating that it wishes to terminate the tenancy on the basis that the accommodation provided is “no longer suitable” for the tenant’s needs.

While this clause references a decision only taking place alongside discussions with the HSE, Loftus said Age Action is concerned over the situation and believes it will become an issue over the years to come.

“I don’t think this is something most people realise they are signing up for when they’re moving into a home like this,” Loftus said.

“They’re moving into accommodation that they believe will support them to age well in place rather than a nursing home.”

Advocates say Ireland should learn from the stronger legal protections in New Zealand and Australia, which give certainty to both developers and those who choose to spend the rest of their lives in a retirement village.

Retirement villages built around nursing homes

One example of retirement villages that have been used in Ireland are small estates dotted around an existing nursing home.

In one such case in Co Sligo, all properties were owned by the same company, but residents have found themselves with eviction notices after the owner was bought out by a different healthcare firm.

A landlord is legally entitled to commence eviction proceedings as in the Sligo case, but the situation raised questions over protection for residents of retirement homes.

Age profile

The age profile of private rented tenants has shifted drastically. At the last Census, a fifth of private renters in their 50s, and nearly a quarter in their 40s.

Loftus of Age Action warned that 43% of tenants have little prospect of getting into secure housing – either owner occupied or social housing – as they move into older age.

Age Action graph showing the growing number of the population in private renting, with data drawn from the CSO. Age Action Age Action

Real estate and investment specialists CBRE estimated the figure was at 54 private and voluntary-run retirement villages in Ireland as of 2023, with an average size of around 30 units.

CBRE noted that this was set to significantly increase in size, with around ten planning applications being lodged annually by developers for the delivery of retirement housing.