Pearl Retirement Resort

Pearl is designed for retirees or those over 55 years that are able to live independently. Living at Pearl enables you to enjoy all the normal aspects of living in your own home, but without the burdens of home and garden maintenance that are required in your standard residential property.

Residents of Pearl also enjoy so much more than just their architecturally designed, light, spacious villa. The Leisure Centre is also available to enhance general health and wellbeing.

If you would like to secure a villa at Pearl you will pay a premium (ingoing contribution) to Southern Cross Care. This premium is paid as: A refundable deposit fee of $5,000 when an application for a villa is made, with the balance of the premium paid at settlement date.

The amount of the premium varies depending on the villa size, number of bedrooms, floorplan style, location, lot size and aspect etc. With 63 villas and various floorplan styles, there is a diverse range of prices.

Nil. This is a considerable saving compared with a typical residential property purchase or a strata title. Southern Cross Care is the owner of Pearl and, whilst residents have full occupation rights in respect of their villa, there is no transfer of title at and as a result there is no stamp duty payable.

All residents living at Pearl occupy their villas under a leasehold arrangement, which is often referred to as a Licence to Occupy. Whilst Southern Cross Care maintains the title ownership of the property, The Retirement Villages Act and the Residence Agreement protect the residents’ tenure.

The maintenance fee is designed to simplify household budgeting by incorporating many of the typical household costs into one regular charge. Additionally, it also funds the ongoing operation of the facilities and services provided at Pearl Retirement Resort as detailed in your contract.
The fee is levied to meet the cost of:

• Rates and taxes – e.g. council, water

• Insurance (excluding contents) of building, common areas, plant and equipment

• Public lighting

• Repairs, painting and maintenance of buildings, plant and equipment

• Use and maintenance of all common facilities including swimming pool, library, etc..

• Administration costs – wages for manager, administration, gardening and maintenance staff.

• Cleaning of common areas, rubbish removal

• Replacement of hot water services, air conditioning (installed by Southern Cross Care), appliances, floor coverings which were supplied in the villa when it was first occupied by the resident.

The maintenance fee is charged per week and is payable every four (4) weeks in advance. The maintenance fee is reviewed every year.

The amount of the maintenance fee and the basis upon which is calculated may vary from time to time.
The cost of periodic refurbishment of a villa or the Leisure Centre is funded by Southern Cross Care from funds which are held in the Capital Replacement Fund.

Residents are responsible for internal cleaning, general housekeeping and the maintenance of the rear garden associated with their specific villa.

You are also required to pay for your own electricity, your own phone bill, contents insurance, and if required, pay-TV, emergency monitoring service and internet services.

When a resident/s vacates a villa, the interest-free loan (premium/ingoing contribution) made to Southern Cross Care will be discharged by Southern Cross Care paying to the outgoing resident or the resident’s estate, the following amounts:

Villa vacated in:

The balance of the above % is retained by Southern Cross Care and is commonly known as a Deferred Management Fee (DMF) or an Exit Fee.

This Deferred Fee allows residents to enjoy the lifestyle and facilities of Pearl without having to pay for them until the villa is sold at a later date. It also means residents have access to more of their funds earlier, rather than committing them to provide for their housing requirements. (see Residence Agreement for full details).

*The following costs are deducted from this amount at settlement.

• A contribution to the Capital Replacement Fund of the village of 1.2% per year, or part year, of the original ingoing contribution (your purchase price). This amount is capped at 12% after ten years.
• A remarketing fee of 1.5% of the resale price (next ingoing contribution), to cover advertising, Southern Cross Care sales agent and administration costs in negotiating the sale of the vacant villa.

Upon being offered a villa by Southern Cross Care, you will be asked to complete an application form and pay to Southern Cross Care a fully refundable deposit of $5,000, which will secure your interest in that villa.

Once you have submitted your application form and paid the deposit, Southern Cross Care will provide you with the documents ‘Residence Agreement’ which we are required by law to provide to a prospective resident of a retirement village.

The balance of the ingoing contribution is to be paid at settlement.

We recommend that you seek legal independent advice of your choice prior to signing the documentation. Fees for such advice will be an additional expense to you.

Yes, absolutely. This is quite common.

Firstly we will confirm the expected settlement date. Once this has been provided to you, we will give you approximately 3 months to confirm the sale of your property.

Yes, you may choose to withdraw from the arrangements within 10 business days after signing the Residence Agreement, provided written notice is given to Southern Cross Care. Southern Cross Care will refund in full any money paid by you.

Yes, of course. Your family and friends can visit you in the same manner that you are used to.

Overnight guests are also welcome, however prior written consent needs to be provided by Southern Cross Care if those guests stay with you for more than 10 days in any one period.

Domestic pets are welcome at Pearl as long as prior written consent has been provided by Southern Cross Care. The organisation reserves the right to withdraw such consent should any pets cause inconvenience and annoyance to others, and the consent will automatically lapse upon the death of the nominated pet.

A weekly maintenance fee is charged and is designed to simplify household budgeting by incorporating many of the typical household costs into one regular charge.

Additionally, it also funds the ongoing operation of the facilities and services provided at Pearl Retirement Resort as detailed in your Residence Agreement.

The fee is levied to meet the cost of:

• Rates and taxes – e.g. council, water
• Insurance (excluding contents) of building, common areas, plant and equipment
• Public lighting
• Repairs, painting and maintenance of buildings, plant and equipment
• Use and maintenance of all common facilities including Leisure Centre and swimming pool, etc.
• Administration costs – wages for manager, administration, gardening and maintenance staff.
• Cleaning of common areas, rubbish removal
• Replacement of hot water services, air conditioning (installed by Southern Cross Care), appliances, floor coverings which were supplied in the villa when it was first occupied by the resident

Yes. However, in each villa there must be at least one retired person. This means that at least one resident in each villa must have attained 55 years of age and retired from full-time employment.

Yes. Pearl has a stunning Leisure Centre offering a range of amenities, activities and services for residents. You will be warmly welcomed and encouraged to make use of these fabulous facilities as often or as little as you like.

These facilities include a swimming pool, gym, billiards and table tennis area, outside entertainment area with BBQ, tropical gardens, resident vegetable garden, library, a multi-purpose lounge and café/bar area for residents’ gatherings and private functions hosted by residents.

Regular activities undertaken by Pearl residents include weekly aqua aerobics, private gym workouts, table tennis, mah-jong, weekly card games such as bridge and poker, monthly movie nights and BBQ social nights.

Residents are invited to participate in any activity that is planned by the Pearl community and or Social Committee. The centre is also available for private celebrations by prior arrangement.

Residents also regularly participate in outings such as weekly bus trips to the Nightcliff shopping centre and social outings in the Southern Cross Care bus to local clubs and cafés.

If the need arises, Southern Cross Care will work with you to understand your care needs and will use our best endeavours to assist you to move into Pearl Supported Care. Any admission is subject to availability, care needs, Government requirements and assessment outcomes. Please contact the Care Options Team for more information on 1800 852 772.

Southern Cross Care has a member of the maintenance team rostered on call twenty-four (24) hours a day, every day of the year for emergencies. The cost of this service is included in the weekly maintenance fee.

There is a range of facilities in the area. The closest amenities are just 5 minutes walk in the heart of Fannie Bay and include shops and services such as Café, restaurant, bakery, supermarket, premium butchery, hairdresser and beauty salon.

Bus route #4 travels along nearby Dick Ward Drive to Nightcliff, Parap, Rapid Creek, Darwin City and Casuarina.