Over 60 and living in a community scheme | New update to the Older Persons Act
28 July 2026 | Rob Jones
South Africa’s retirement community schemes have changed considerably since the Older Persons Act 13 of 2006 (“OPA”) was enacted. Many schemes now provide far more than accommodation: residents may have access to wellness programmes, home-based care, assisted living, dementia support, frail care and other services intended to support ageing in place.
The OPA responds to this changing environment by expanding the categories of care recognised in law, strengthening the protection of older persons and giving the government wider monitoring and enforcement powers.
The Older Persons Amendment Act (“OPAA”) was assented to by the President on 3 November 2025 and published in the Government Gazette on 6 November 2025. Its commencement clause provides that it takes effect on a date, or different dates for different provisions fixed by Presidential proclamation. At the time of writing, the principal official legal sources continue to describe it as “awaiting proclamation”, and schemes should confirm the commencement position before treating a particular amendment as operative.
A broader concept of older-person care
The OPAA substantially expands and modernises the language used in the Principal Act.
An older person is now defined uniformly as anyoneaged 60 or older, removing the previous distinction between men aged 65 and women aged 60. It also introduces definitions for:
family care;
special care;
a private residential facility; and
temporary safe care.
The definition of a residential facility is broadened to include assisted-living, independent-living, frail-care and similar facilities, with the definitions as:
an assisted living facility, providing accommodation and support to partially independent older persons who require some supervision or assistance with daily living, and
an independent living facility, providing accessible accommodation to active, independent older persons.
This is particularly relevant to retirement villages. The traditional distinction between a housing scheme and a care facility is becoming less clear as schemes add wellness, assisted-living, and home-care services.
The amendment should not however be read as automatically turning every sectional title scheme, Homeowners’ Association (“HOA”) or life right village into a registered residential facility. The application of OPAA will depend on the nature, organisation and extent of the services actually provided. A scheme that merely accommodates older residents is in a different position from one that operates an assisted-living facility, employs caregivers or provides organised care services.
Qualified caregivers become more important
The revised definition of a caregiver distinguishes “informal family care” from care provided in a community-based, residential or similar facility. A person providing care in such a setting must possess a qualification accredited under the National Qualifications Framework and appropriate to the care of older persons.
For community schemes, this strengthens the need to verify:
caregiver qualifications;
the accreditation status of training;
references and employment history;
police or offender-register screening where applicable;
continuing training and supervision, and
the contractual responsibilities of outsourced care providers.
A scheme should not assume that appointing an external contractor removes all governance risk. The scheme’s governing body should still satisfy itself that the provider and its personnel are legally compliant and appropriately insured.
Stronger protection against abuse
The OPAA broadens the protection afforded to older persons. It expressly addresses ageism and reinforces protection against violence, gender-based discrimination, property abuse and interference with inheritance rights. It also recognises emotional, verbal, psychological, economic and spiritual abuse, harassment, neglect, unlawful detention and inappropriate deprivation of medical care or nutrition.
These provisions have direct implications for retirement communities. Abuse is not confined to physical assault. It could include:
financial exploitation by relatives, staff or other residents;
humiliation, intimidation or repeated verbal mistreatment;
improper restrictions on a resident’s movement;
withholding necessary care, food or medication;
misuse of a resident’s property or finances, and
failure to respond appropriately to suspected neglect.
Schemes therefore need to adopt clear safeguarding, reporting and escalation procedures. Staff and managers must understand that concerns about abuse cannot simply be treated as private family matters or ordinary neighbour disputes.
Reporting and urgent intervention
Any person who suspects that an older person has been abused or has suffered an abuse-related injury must immediately report that suspicion to the appropriate authority identified by the OPAA. The amendments also envisage investigation within 48 hours where the suspicion is substantiated.
The OPAA further introduces a mechanism under which an older person may be removed to temporary safe care without a prior court order where urgent protection is required. Temporary safe care may continue for a period not exceeding six months, subject to the statutory process.
A retirement village manager may therefore have obligations extending beyond recording an incident in a complaints register. The manager may need to preserve evidence, report the matter, protect the resident, cooperate with social workers or the police, and ensure that the alleged perpetrator does not continue to present a risk.
Greater monitoring and enforcement
One of the central purposes of the OPAA is to strengthen the monitoring and evaluation of services to older persons.
It supports a more coordinated approach involving organs of state and other stakeholders and provides for interdepartmental structures to monitor implementation. The amendments also strengthen the government’s powers in relation to unregistered or non-compliant care services.
A person designated by the Director-General may direct an illegal or unregistered community-based or residential facility to close, potentially within 24 hours, and may obtain police assistance. Material non-compliance by a registered provider may lead to deregistration or closure, subject to the applicable procedural safeguards.
For schemes providing organised care, this makes registration status and compliance more than an administrative formality. Failure by a care operator can disrupt services to vulnerable residents and expose the scheme to serious operational, reputational and legal consequences.
More formal governance structures
Only a juristic person or trust may be registered to provide community-based care and support services or to operate a residential facility. A sole proprietor operating such a service immediately before commencement must convert the business into a juristic person within 12 months after the relevant provisions take effect.
This supports greater accountability, continuity and transparency. It also means that governing bodies should examine exactly which entity is providing care within the scheme.
For example, care may be provided by:
the body corporate or HOA itself;
the owner or developer of a life right scheme;
a separate non-profit company;
a managing agent;
an external care contractor, or
a combination of these entities.
The contracts must clearly allocate responsibility for registration, staffing, clinical or care protocols, incident reporting, insurance, regulatory inspections and continuity of service.
The OPAA and community scheme legislation
The OPAA operates alongside, rather than in place of:
the Housing Development Schemes for Retired Persons Act 65 of 1988;
the Sectional Titles Schemes Management Act 8 of 2011;
the Community Schemes Ombud Service Act 9 of 2011;
the scheme’s Constitution or Memorandum of Incorporation (MOI), Management and Conduct Rules;
life right agreements and disclosure documents, and
applicable health, employment and information-protection laws.
The governing body may therefore have two distinct roles. It may govern the residential community under community scheme related legislation, while also operating, commissioning or overseeing care services regulated under the OPA.
Problems frequently arise when these roles are not separated. A managing agent appointed to administer levies and common property is not necessarily qualified or authorised to manage a care service. Similarly, a residents’ committee should not make clinical or safeguarding decisions unless that authority has been properly assigned.
Five questions every retirement community should ask
1. What services are we actually providing?
Are they limited to accommodation and amenities, or do they amount to organised home-based care, assisted living, frail care or community-based support?
2. Is the correct entity registered?
Confirm whether the care service or facility requires registration and whether the registered operator is the same entity that actually employs staff, contracts with residents and receives service fees.
3. Are all caregivers appropriately qualified and screened?
Obtain documentary evidence rather than relying only on a contractor’s assurance.
4. Do we have a workable abuse-reporting procedure?
The policy should identify who must be informed, what must happen immediately, how evidence is protected and how the resident is kept safe.
5. Do our contracts properly allocate risk and responsibility?
Service agreements should address compliance, qualifications, reporting, insurance, indemnities, information sharing, inspections, service failure and termination.
Preparing for the new framework
Governing bodies should conduct a structured review of their operations rather than waiting for an inspection or serious incident. That review should cover:
the legal classification and registration of each care service;
the identity and authority of the service operator;
caregiver qualifications and training records;
policies on abuse, neglect, safeguarding and emergency intervention;
reporting and record-keeping systems;
service standards and quality indicators;
POPIA compliant sharing of resident information;
contracts with care and wellness providers, and
the governing body’s oversight and reporting arrangements.
Conclusion
The OPAA is not merely a technical update. It reflects a broader policy shift towards recognising retirement communities as environments in which accommodation, care, protection and quality of life increasingly intersect.
For community schemes, the central issue is not whether every scheme has suddenly become a care facility. It is whether the scheme has crossed or is approaching the line between providing residential amenities and operating organised services to older persons.
Trustees, directors, village managers and managing agents should understand where that line lies and ensure that care services are properly structured, registered, staffed and monitored. In the emerging legislative environment, good governance and good care can no longer be treated as separate responsibilities.
This article provides a general overview and should not be regarded as legal advice. The commencement and application of the relevant provisions should be confirmed against the latest Government Gazette and the circumstances of the particular scheme.
For more information on the above please reach out to info@tvdmconsultants.com today!
About the Author:
Rob Jones is the Managing Director of Shire Retirement Properties. A consulting organisation focused exclusively on the retirement sector since 2010.