Residents at Olive Estate Lifestyle Village are taking sides, with complaints the central point of division.
Lawyers have been engaged to deal with complaints which have not been addressed internally between Olive Estate management and the residents.
And while some residents did not want to be named because they thought it would bring what they felt was unwarranted attention to those who were complaining and that it wasn’t a fair portrayal of the village, other sources feared speaking out publicly because of potential repercussions from management.
The complaints that have incurred legal costs on the side of Olive Estate have formed another issue which is causing further disharmony between residents.
A document published by the NZ Retirement Villages Residents Association claims the Olive Estate Lifestyle Village have increased their weekly fees by 8% to cover the costs they have incurred in legal fees from resident’s complaints.
The article went on to say residents became very angry after the meeting with those residents that had complained.
One observer has said it has a feeling like the Wright Family Waimea Village saga.
“Olive Estate subsidises the weekly outgoings charge paid by residents,” says Olive Estate’s managing director, Kristin Nimmo, “and this subsidy equates to approximately $255,000 per year.”
“We have increased weekly outgoings fees at Olive Estate by $8 a week.”
A number of residents are feeling isolated as they allege they have been aggressively singled out by Kirsten for even just being on the resident’s committee. Residents formed the Residents Association Committee at Olive Estate originally for social events but it has ended up mainly dealing with complaints.