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on Thursday, March 13, 2025
Retirement villages offer a vibrant, connected community, making them an excellent choice for retirement living. In this guide, we explore the various types of retirement villages, including traditional retirement villages, rental retirement villages, assisted living and land-lease communities.
Dive into the pros and cons of each option to help you make an informed decision about the lifestyle that best suits you. Whether you're actively considering a move or simply exploring your options, this article provides valuable insights into the benefits, features, and unique opportunities that retirement village living can offer.
Retirement villages are great retirement living options, offering a wonderful environment for enjoying your retirement years.
Here, we explore four types of retirement villages and their pros and cons.
Types of retirement villages
The four main types of retirement villages are:
1. Traditional retirement villages
These are typically shared buildings like apartment blocks, villas or townhouses, or complexes of individual homes set around communal spaces. They offer independent living and are regulated by state and territory laws. The accommodation and services are designed to support ageing in a safe and supportive environment.
Pros for traditional retirement villages
Your home, which may have a small garden, will usually be compact and easy to look after. You’ll live independently, but you won't need to handle building repairs or maintain communal grounds.
Traditional retirement villages are usually gated and have on-site management which translates to peace of mind and security. Featuring beautiful homes within picturesque grounds, BaptistCare’s retirement villages are well-maintained properties with gated security.
You’ll be able to form new friendships and engage in social activities with like-minded people. BaptistCare actively encourages residents to come together and host meals and celebrations, using the villages’ alfresco BBQs and dining areas.
Many villages, including most BaptistCare properties, now allow pets. Check out the village’s pet policies and ensure you understand the approval process.
Some retirement villages are co-located with or close to aged care homes, which helps create peace of mind for your future. If the time comes for you to transition to residential care, you could stay with the one provider.
At BaptistCare, we have several beautiful retirement villages which offer a range of aged care services for local residents.
Financial
When you choose a BaptistCare retirement village in NSW or ACT, you enter into a Loan Licence Agreement, where the price of your home is paid as an interest-free loan to BaptistCare, giving you a guaranteed licence to live in your home for as long as you wish. A Loan Licence Agreement provides greater flexibility than traditional home ownership and offers the following benefits:
When you choose a BaptistCare retirement village in WA, you will enter into a Lease for Life Agreement. Lease for Life Agreements grant you exclusive rights to occupy your unit for your lifetime from the lease commencement date. A Lease for Life Licence Agreement provides greater flexibility than traditional home ownership and offers the following benefits:
Cons for traditional retirement villages
On the flip side, there are some other things to consider before moving into a traditional retirement village.
You buy the right to live independently in the property, not the property itself, and therefore, you will never ‘own’ your retirement living home.
You need to sign contracts, which can be quite complicated. Professional advice will help you understand them.
You will need to pay a range of different fees. These generally include things like entry fees, recurrent fees and deferred management fees.
The costs associated with BaptistCare’s NSW and ACT retirement villages are available on our website Retirement Villages Financials Explained | BaptistCare
The costs associated with BaptistCare’s WA retirement villages are also available on our website Retirement Living Financials Explained (WA) | BaptistCare
Retirement villages have rules and policies. These typically cover things like modifications you can make to your living space, visitors and whether you can have pets.
2. Rental retirement villages
As the name suggests, rental retirement villages offer rental accommodation to retirees. Units could be located within traditional retirement villages but are more often in gated, purpose-built rental villages.
Pros for rental retirement villages
Rental retirement villages offer a secure community with an onsite manager.
Your unit will be simply furnished and have basic cooking facilities. You can rent it week by week on either a permanent or temporary basis with no lock-in contract. Electricity and water are usually included in the rent, as can be support services such as laundry.
Rental retirement villages can also provide a sense of community, as you will be living amongst others in a similar situation.
Cons for rental retirement villages
There are fewer retirement rental villages in Australia, so finding one might be tricky. Most are in regional towns, which could distance you from friends and family.
Although basic support services are available, rental retirement villages that don’t also operate as traditional retirement villages like BaptistCare, are not obliged to provide assisted living options. They are only legally required to provide accommodation.
While some operators may have a program of social activities, help organise home care services and aim to provide nutritious meals, the truth is that unless they are also traditional retirement village operators, they don’t have to.
Although there is no lock-in contract, every operator will have its own rental agreement and rent can be as high as 80% of the aged care pension.
3. Assisted living apartments
An assisted living apartment is a serviced apartment located within a traditional retirement village where you’ll receive basic services such as cleaning, laundry and meals in a communal dining room. Some assisted living apartment operators also offer access to allied care and nursing services.
Pros for assisted living apartments
These apartments might appeal if you want to continue to live independently but find daily tasks like cooking and cleaning increasingly challenging. While smaller than traditional retirement village units, they support ageing and are more affordable.
Being part of a retirement village means you'll enjoy the company of those around you and have access to social activities, support and care as you age.
Many villages like BaptistCare have an aged care facility on-site or nearby, making a transition into aged care, if needed, easy and convenient.
Cons for assisted living apartments
Availability could be problematic, as most retirement villages don’t offer assisted living apartments. If you do secure one, you won’t own it, you will rent it via an upfront fee, which acts as a form of rent in advance.
While assisted living services are available, you'll pay for them via weekly charges. Additional fees for laundry, cleaning, and meals will apply.
You'll need to sign a contract upon entry, similar to a traditional retirement village unit, and pay a deferred management fee when you leave, which can be as high as 40% of your upfront fee.
4. Land-lease villages
Born from the caravan park industry, land-lease villages are usually gated complexes of individual, manufactured homes with communal areas. Increasingly, these complexes are becoming more purpose-built to support ageing.
Pros for land-lease villages
Instead of paying an entry fee, you will buy your building and rent the land, so you will enter into a rental contract. Centrelink may subsidise your rental costs if you are on a full or even part pension. You can sell the building when you leave and any capital gain will be yours.
Most land-lease villages have gated entry and on-site management, which aids security.
Land-lease village operators might not be actively involved in encouraging or helping to organise social activities.
Some land-lease villages may allow you to keep pets, in line with their rules and policies.
Cons for land-lease villages
One of the big considerations with land-lease villages is that operators are not subject to the same legislation as traditional retirement village operators like BaptistCare. Therefore, Land-lease villages are under no obligation to support ageing or provide assisted living. Land-lease villages are also not usually located close to residential aged care facilities making moving to one, if necessary, potentially difficult.
You will have to pay for your building and its ongoing maintenance, just as you would if you bought a home outside a land-lease village. You will also be responsible for looking after your own garden.
You will need to sign a rental contract, which can be complicated. As well as paying rent for the land your home sits on, you may pay other fees to support the village's infrastructure. Operators set the fees and can vary them as they see fit. Some operators also charge a departure fee or Deferred Management Fee (DMF). Professional advice will help you understand your contract.
Retirement lifestyle with BaptistCare
As an experienced and leading provider of care, our warm and welcoming retirement living communities for over 55s offer a broad range of lifestyles.
We understand the importance of community, belonging, and togetherness. It’s why our retirement villages have been designed with a people-first approach. Our villas, units and apartments range between 1 and 3 bedrooms in size – some with a study nook.
Featuring beautiful homes within picturesque grounds, our retirement communities offer you peace of mind and security, with a range of flexible financing options. BaptistCare has been trusted by thousands of Australians across the retirement villages, aged care, and community service sectors since 1944.
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