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Posted: 2024-06-06 20:13:42

Daryl Rowe is one of about 40,000 people who rely on residential land lease communities as an affordable housing option in New South Wales.

The 57-year-old moved into Kincumber Nautical Village on the New South Wales Central Coast eight years ago, but has struggled to keep up with increasing site fees ever since.

Mr Rowe's fortnightly site costs are just less than half of his disability pension.

"When I moved in it was $175 a week, which I could cope with, but now it's up to nearly $500 a fortnight," he said.

"Everything is a bit tight — I'm not buying many luxury things … just the bare minimum that I have to, really."

An older man stands in his kitchen and looks out the window.

Daryl Rowe's home is less than 100 square metres in size.(ABC Central Coast: Keira Proust)

Residents living in these types of communities own their own homes but lease the land and pay weekly or fortnightly site fees to the operator for maintenance and services such as garbage collection.

Home owners at the Kincumber village have long been calling for the government to implement the 48 recommendations made after a 2021 review into the Residential Land Lease Act amid ongoing fee increases by the operator.

Legislation to implement more than 20 of those recommendations passed through state parliament this week.

Among the changes, are that operators will be required to provide more information about proposed fee hikes and ensure they are fair.

"The lack of fine print of the previous legislation allowed the absolute exploitation of poor residents living in the land lease villages," Member for Gosford Liesl Tesch said in parliament on Wednesday night.

The ABC has contacted the operator of Kincumber Nautical Village for comment.

An older woman in a brightly-coloured jumper stands in the doorway of her home.

Colleen Butcher has been left to cover costs on her own since her husband died.(ABC Central Coast: Keira Proust)

'Changes will help'

Kincumber village resident Colleen Butcher said she was grateful for the changes and believed they would make a difference.

"This will at least help where we know that the [village operator] won't be able to just randomly say [site fees are] going up $25 a week," she said.

"[The operators] have to be able to justify that properly, so it'll make a difference."

An older woman pulls up the blinds in her home, as seen from without.

Hundreds of people live in Kincumber Nautical Village.(ABC Central Coast: Keira Proust)

Ms Butcher's husband died last year, leaving her to pay for the increasing site fees on a single pension.

"I've had to use my credit cards, which I didn't ever want to use again," she said.

"But I've had to for things that have broken and I needed to fixed."

Ms Butcher's children have also helped pay for necessary expenses.

Modest homes along a narrow bitumen street.

Greens MP Tamara Smith says land lease arrangements are crucial amid the ongoing housing crisis.(ABC Central Coast: Keira Proust)

An essential option

The majority of residential land lease communities are located in regional and rural areas of NSW.

North Coast, Central Coast, Lake Macquarie, Port Stephens and Sydney area MPs supported the bill and said it would positively impact many of their constituents.

Greens MP for Ballina Tamara Smith said the style of housing was essential.

"In our area, due to lack of availability, the cost of rental properties is astronomical for a regional area," she said.

"Once people have been dispossessed or displaced from those communities, it is very grim indeed."

Operators will have 12 months to review and update all existing site fee agreements to ensure they are compliant with the amended legislation.

The state government said it was in the process of implementing more recommendations made following the 2021 review.

Consultation for the second stage of reforms is underway now.

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