By legislative mandate, Retirement Village Operators in New South Wales needed to have an Asset Management Plan in place by 1 July, 2022. Below is useful information for Village Operators looking to comply with the regulatory requirements.
Here are some resources to assist:
The details are available at the NSW government's Fair Trading web site. Here are the required components:
Asset Register of the Village's major items of capital (any asset over $1,000), as well as information about the effective life of the assets.
Maintenance Schedule, both actual and estimated, of major items of capital, including information about replacement.
Three-year Report on capital maintenance that helps guide expenditures on major items in the Annual Budget.
Note that ASSETjourney meets or exceeds all of the legislative requirements, bringing you an efficient, effective, and compliant solution.
Even though the new regulations can seem burdensome at times, the goal is better transparency for residents and improved operations for the Village. Assets that are well-maintained generally last longer. Also, having a clearer view into maintenance and future costs of Village assets gives residents, as well as management, guidance on what kind of fees and expenditures to expect in the future.
Our partner, MDFM, has a "5 Step Guide To Preparing An Asset Management Plan".
Here are the steps:
Step 1: Determine what system you will use for your asset management plan.
Step 2: Capture the asset data.
Step 3: Import the asset data into your chosen system.
Step 4: Prepare a maintenance schedule for each capital item.
Step 5: Adequately resource the ongoing management of the system.
It is generally expected that other states will follow NSW's lead on this matter and also require Asset Management Plans for retirement village operators. The details, of course, will depend on what legislation is passed in each of the states, but it is likely the requirements will be close to the NSW regulations. See this article on proposed legislation affecting Queensland Retirement Villages.
The Australian Tax Office (ATO) has tables that give guidance on the effective life of assets.
The Secretary's guidelines state that operators must "make a hard copy or an electronic copy available within 7 days after receiving a request." This indicates that an electronic copy is sufficient to meet the legislation's requirements.
