Trevor Allen's mum Barbara was 92 and living with Parkinson's disease when she decided she'd had enough of aged care. She had osteoarthritis, trouble swallowing and experienced sudden mood changes and moments of confusion. Her children were concerned about growing signs of dementia, but Barbara, a retired nurse, wanted more independence. "She was getting a lot more determined to do what she wanted," Mr Allen said. That's when she discovered Harbour Pines, a retirement village on the Geraldton coastline described as offering "beachside living at its best". Harbour Pines is both a strata complex and a retirement village and is regulated under overlapping schemes. By the time Ms Allen moved there in February 2023 she had paid a chunk of life savings – $184,000 – towards a $260,000 unit she would never own. Under an opaque contract known as a "lease-for-life" agreement, she would live in the unit as long as she was able to and pay exit and other fees when she left. Unlike traditional home ownership, the arrangement means the land title does not change hands during the transaction. "It only lasted one day," Mr Allen said. "She thought she'd be able to carry on a normal life, [but] she fell over and took all the skin off her arm and she went to hospital." Ms Allen never lived in the unit — she spent weeks in hospital and was formally diagnosed with dementia three months after signing the lease. She had not received a cent back from her lease on the unit by the time she died in June 2024. Now her children are locked in a legal dispute with the company. "They got you over a barrel," Mr Allen said. "[But they're] not gonna run over me." Mr Allen has lodged a statement of claim with the District Court of Western Australia against Adder Holdings, the operator of Harbour Pines. Given Mr Allen's mother's advanced age and poor health, his lawyer is alleging the operator's decision to sign the 92-year-old up to the agreement amounted to unconscionable conduct. In a statement, Adder Holdings said the contractual dispute was "strongly contested" and that "at the time Mrs Allen entered into the 'lease for life' agreement she did at all times have capacity to do so". "Given this is currently before the court, Adder does not wish to comment further on this matter other than to say they are serious allegations that are strongly disputed by Adder," the company said in a statement. This is not the only legal battle Adder Holdings is involved in. Mr Allen is among a group of more than a dozen residents and families who have told the ABC they have serious concerns with the financial management of Harbour Pines. A number of the residents have joined forces to bring a matter before a tribunal and others have complained to the Consumer Protection commissioner. The elderly residents and their families say they are being chased for exorbitant fees and unexplained charges that have left them exhausted and dismayed. Several have entered into the same lease-for-life contract that Ms Allen signed, including one resident who claims they did not realise they didn't actually own the property they had paid for. Dying resident pursued Between 2021 and 2022 the company was involved in a grievance with an elderly resident who had stopped paying an emergency maintenance fee. The fee was for unforeseen costs that could affect the village as a whole, but former resident Gail De Lacy told friends "there was nothing in her agreement" requiring her to pay the additional fee, which amounted to $12 per month, so she refused to pay it. Almost immediately Adder Holdings began pursuing Ms De Lacy for her share, which after 18 months, the company claimed, had reached more than $4,000. "She got legal advice," her neighbour Patricia Wells said. "And they said no, she didn't owe that money, because [they were] charging all this interest and administration and collection fees." When Ms De Lacy, who was legally blind and suffering from cancer, refused to pay the $4,000, Adder Holdings took her to court. Ms Wells said when the matter came before the magistrate Ms De Lacy was "in hospital and … basically on her deathbed, in and out of consciousness". The hearing was held in Ms De Lacy's absence and the court ruled in favour of Adder Holdings. In a statement, Adder Holdings said it could not recall whether the court was informed that Ms De Lacy was in palliative care when the ruling was made. Three days before she died a hand-delivered letter from Adder appeared on Ms De Lacy's doorstep. "As you are aware, Adder has been actively acquiring units in the village," it said. "Obviously there is never a good time to resolve payment of outstanding accounts. "If we can help you in any regard as to your ongoing health and requirements please let us know." Within nine days of Ms De Lacy's death a letter of demand was issued to her estate seeking court costs and other "accounts outstanding" amounting to $13,501.70. Settlement documents show Adder Holdings then went on to purchase the unit. After the allocation of "deferred management fees", "arrears in recurrent fees" and "reinstatement costs" to Adder Holdings, Ms De Lacy's estate was left with about $107,000 — less than half of the $265,000 she paid for the unit 13 years earlier. Ms De Lacy's unit is one of thirteen in the complex to have been acquired by the company, which residents say gives Adder uneven voting power in the management of the village. "That's the root of the problem at Harbour Pines," Perth lawyer Haydon Bawden said. Mr Bawden is representing several of the village's residents in the Western Australian Tribunal over a dispute involving a 10-year maintenance fund he alleges was never properly voted on. The matter is slated to come before the tribunal in April. In a statement Adder Holdings said that voting at the village was "done in accordance with the Strata Titles Act". The company has denied the residents' allegations that it sought to acquire the units in order to have uneven voting rights. "The implementation of a buyback scheme at the village was to provide a level of financial comfort to residents/prospective residents and to be proactive with this (indeed, now the Western Australian legislation is mandating such a practice)," the company said in a statement. "Harbour Pines Retirement Village is a wonderful village. The 'targeted 10' Ninety-two-year-old Bert Lenane and his wife Peggy are among a group of residents locked in another dispute over a claim from Adder Holdings over "outstanding fees". The company claims the residents, who call themselves "the targeted 10", are each tens of thousands of dollars in arrears. "My life has told me you don't walk away from this sort of situation," Mr Lenane said. In March 2021 Mr Lenane and other residents from the village called a meeting to discuss their disenchantment with village management. They met at the football club across the road, "so they could all walk over with their wheelers," Mr Lenane said, and voted to terminate the contract with Adder Holdings and appoint a new manager, Ray White Geraldton, to manage the property. Adder Holdings refused to accept the meeting's validity and took the village residents to the State Administrative Tribunal where it secured a favourable outcome. In December, 2022 the tribunal ruled the residents' football club meeting was "invalid" because the minutes were not recorded properly. "Every time we wanted to make a move we were frustrated," Mr Lenane said. The tribunal ordered an administrator to pay Adder Holdings back the strata fees collected since the "invalid" meeting and ruled that the company would return to managing the village. But the residents say Adder Holdings is demanding additional "outstanding fees" from them. "We've been to consumer affairs … we've asked strata managers for advice," Mr Lenane said. "We're just doing the best we can to try and get things better for the people in the village. "It is a tiresome process — personally, Peggy and I, we're in a position where we could walk away, but can you leave the rest of these people? In a statement, a spokesman for Adder Holdings said the company was "in a contractual, commercial relationship with the residents" and was "entitled to charge a fee for those services". The statement noted that "the accounts have all been independently audited". Calls for inquiry In September 2024 a number of national consumer groups, including the Owners Corporation Network demanded the federal treasurer call an inquiry into the strata management industry. The consumer groups said key issues plaguing the industry included "widespread questionable, unethical or unlawful practices by strata managers", a lack of transparency in remuneration models, a persistent failure in industry and government oversight and harmful debt recovery practices. Consumer Protection Commissioner Trish Blake is the regulator for retirement villages in WA and confirmed that complaints had been made to her department about Harbour Pines. "There's been a broad range of complaints, and one of the complexities with the Harbour Pines, this particular village, is that it is both a strata complex and retirement village," she said. Ms Blake said the regulator had worked with Adder Holdings to improve financial transparency at the village. In a statement a spokeswoman for Consumer Protection said enquiries to relevant third parties would continue to be made. "If a consumer is concerned, we encourage them to lodge a complaint with us and then we would investigate further," she said. Retirement villages are also being scrutinised more broadly at the national level. Federal Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones met with his state counterparts late last year after an ABC investigation into the multi-billion-dollar sector revealed "corporatised elder abuse" through excessive fees, oppressive contracts and misleading marketing promises. Regulation is dependent on state and territory authorities and the rules differ across the country. In a statement Mr Jones told the ABC state and territory consumer affairs ministers had agreed to report on their progress throughout 2025. "There clearly needs to be a significant improvement in the conduct of retirement village operators," the statement said. "We are particularly focused on identifying opportunities for harmonisation and a meaningful uplift in standards to protect consumers." Legal reforms passed in WA last year aimed at establishing clearer rules regarding exit entitlements for lease-for-life holders and obligations and responsibilities for village maintenance are due to come into effect in December. Mr Bawden says the reforms offer an opportunity to clean up the sector. "They're changing the law — now enforce it," he said. "Who are we as a society if we don't look after our most vulnerable?"