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Retirees living in a forlorn Bendigo caravan park could fork out thousands of dollars to be evicted, with one resident quoted $40,000, according to evidence given to a parliamentary inquiry into retirement housing.
About 90 long-term residents at the Central City Caravan Park will be uprooted in December after the current business owners were refused an extension to their lease.
Evidence given to the year-long inquiry into the retirement housing sector suggested one resident living in the park was quoted $25,000 to break up their permanent unit and an extra $15,000 to take it to the tip.
Housing for the Aged Action Group project worker Aoife Cooke told the inquiry two residents at the park will be evicted for the third time due to park closures, while another two would be uprooted for a second time.
However, according to Central City Caravan Park business co-owner Christine Norman, the $40,000 figure would not apply to the majority of tenants at the park, if any.
She said the cost varied depending on the type and destination of the unit, and whether the units were being reused.
“It’s terrible don’t get me wrong, but (the figure $40,000) makes it sound worse than it is,” Ms Norman said.
Ms Norman suggested some tenants might have been “taken advantage” of by traders aware of the caravan park’s fate.
A legal challenge from one resident at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal proved fruitless, according to Ms Norman, who said the notice to vacate still stood.
Ms Norman, whose lease expires in March, 2018, has a contract which requires her to vacate the land upon the lease’s expiration.
“This means we must dispose of all our cabins, and other plants and equipment, but also must enforce the removal of any sub-leasee,” Ms Norman told a meeting of park residents late last year.
Residents must leave the site before December 29.
The inquiry into retirement housing recommended the government increase the supply of retirement housing by establishing retirement housing zones.
Other proposals from the inquiry, published last week, include clarifying and tightening up the legislation surrounding retirement villages to provide extra security for the consumer.
Haven Home Safe chief executive Ken Marchingo said the organisation was working with residents to establish their options.
“Some people have trouble accepting their world is going to change. That’s a problem you have with elderly people,” he said.