Hamilton Grey Power - July 2020
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#<br />
Unfair Terms<br />
BY SUE CHETWIN,<br />
CEO CONSUMER NZ<br />
Some of you will be reading<br />
this from the comfort<br />
of your retirement village<br />
accommodation. You will have<br />
bought into that village, hopefully<br />
fully apprised of what you<br />
have signed up for. In return<br />
for agreeing on a “licence to<br />
occupy” you receive peace of<br />
mind, secure premises, knowledge<br />
that maintenance is generally<br />
not your problem and<br />
that there is, in most instances,<br />
care as you get older.<br />
But that’s not everyone’s<br />
experience. The licence to occupy<br />
might provide peace of<br />
mind for some aspects of life<br />
but not all. What you will have<br />
signed on to when you moved<br />
into your retirement village<br />
is a standard form contract.<br />
Other similar contracts include<br />
your energy or telco bill – they<br />
are the kinds of contracts<br />
where the consumer has little<br />
to no ability to negotiate the<br />
terms. Under the Fair Trading<br />
Act these standard form<br />
contracts must not contain<br />
unfair terms.<br />
At Consumer NZ we are<br />
concerned some clauses in<br />
retirement village contracts are<br />
unfair. Here is an example:<br />
“You must not make any<br />
alterations or additions to<br />
your unit without our prior<br />
consent …<br />
we can give or withhold<br />
consent at our sole<br />
discretion.”<br />
Consumer NZ’s view is that<br />
this is a wide-ranging clause<br />
that gives the company the<br />
ultimate say in what happens.<br />
Where there are legitimate<br />
grounds for the company to<br />
withhold consent these should<br />
be spelled out.<br />
The Commission for Financial<br />
Capability (the former Retirement<br />
Commission) has itself<br />
found contracts presented<br />
to prospective residents to be<br />
so complicated even lawyers<br />
specialising in the field might<br />
not understand them – especially<br />
when there is rest home<br />
processed<br />
Ten tips to avoid<br />
foods...<br />
1. Avoid anything with more than five<br />
ingredients<br />
2. Stay out of the middle of the supermarket<br />
– this is usually where the<br />
junk is<br />
3. Drink water when you are thirsty<br />
or hungry for that matter, often<br />
we think we are hungry but we are<br />
actually dehydrated<br />
4. Make your own sauces and salad<br />
dressings as packaged ones are high<br />
in salt and sugar<br />
5. Avoid anything with numbers in<br />
the ingredients list – numbers equal<br />
colouring and preservative<br />
care involved.<br />
Complex contracts are a<br />
major barrier to consumers understanding<br />
what they’re signing<br />
up for and to getting good<br />
advice. This year Consumer<br />
NZ will be taking a close look<br />
at retirement village contracts<br />
and campaigning to rid them<br />
of unfair terms.<br />
If you are considering going<br />
into a retirement village<br />
and are looking for more information,<br />
go to our website<br />
superseniors.msd.govt.nz<br />
6. Steer clear of packaged foods most<br />
packaged foods will have sugar, salt<br />
or something preservative added<br />
7. Limit foods with extended use by<br />
dates. Take bread as an example,<br />
homemade bread will only last a<br />
couple of days before going stale,<br />
shop bread can last up to 2 weeks<br />
8. Eat more fresh fruit and vegetables<br />
9. Cook at home, this way you can<br />
control what goes into your food<br />
10. Shop at farmers markets or wholefood<br />
stores, they are fantastic places<br />
to buy home grown or organic<br />
produce.<br />
MEMBERSHIP FORM<br />
HAMILTON GREY POWER INC, 30 VICTORIA STREET, HAMILTON | EMAIL hamgreypower@outlook.co.nz<br />
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or I AM A NEW MEMBER (tick box)<br />
Payment can be made at our office (EFTPOS unavailable), by mail or internet banking – 03 1355 0027733 00.<br />
(If a new member, please write 'NEW' as reference on banking site and send us an email advising your address.)<br />
SURNAME........................................................................................................................ (Please circle) Mr / Mrs / Ms / Miss<br />
FIRST NAME(S).........................................................................................................................................................................<br />
ADDRESS (or NEW ADDRESS)..................................................................................................................................................<br />
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12 <strong>Hamilton</strong> greypower Magazine | <strong>July</strong> <strong>2020</strong>
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