Independent living vs serviced apartments vs assisted living

Independent living vs serviced apartments vs assisted living

A retirement village brochure often shows several styles of accommodation on a single campus. They look similar from the outside but offer different levels of support, with different fees and different contracts.

Independent living units (ILUs)

The standard retirement village product. Self-contained homes — usually 1 to 3 bedrooms, with kitchen, laundry, garage. You live entirely independently. The operator provides communal facilities (community centre, pool, gardens) and emergency call buttons, but no cooking, cleaning, or personal care.

• Resident profile. Active, fully independent, typically 65–80 at entry.
• Weekly fee. Lowest of the three categories — covers maintenance and common areas only.
• Contract. Loan-licence, leasehold, or strata, depending on the village.

Serviced apartments

A retirement village category that bundles support services into the weekly fee. Typically smaller (studio to 2-bedroom), often within or attached to the main community building.

Bundled services usually include:

• One or two meals per day in a communal dining room
• Weekly cleaning and linen change
• Personal emergency response system

Optional add-ons can include:

• Personal care assistance (showering, medication prompting)
• Additional meals
• Laundry service

• Resident profile. Typically 75–90, semi-independent, may need light support.
• Weekly fee. Substantially higher than ILU — often 2 to 4 times the cost.
• Contract. Usually loan-licence or leasehold; rarely strata.

A serviced apartment is not residential aged care. No clinical staff are present 24/7. The operator does not require an ACAT assessment. The cost is fully privately funded.

Assisted living

A loose marketing term — there is no Australian regulatory category called "assisted living." Operators use it to describe accommodation that is more supported than serviced apartments but less than residential aged care. In practice, "assisted living" usually means:

• A serviced apartment with additional personal care (often charged hourly on top of the weekly fee), or
• A separately licensed care apartment that uses Home Care Package funding to deliver clinical care in a retirement village setting.

In neither case is the resident in residential aged care. The funding mechanism, regulator, and protections are different.

How to compare

When evaluating a community, ask:

• What is bundled in the weekly fee?
• What is optional and how is it priced?
• If care needs increase, can you stay, or must you transfer?
• Is the on-site facility a residential aged care facility (ACAT-assessed, government-subsidised) or a privately funded service?

The honest operator will give clear answers. The dishonest one will conflate "we have aged care on site" with "your care continuum is guaranteed." It almost never is — admission to residential aged care still requires ACAT assessment and an available place.