One has only to follow the share market to realise what a lucrative business retirement villages are.

With retirement villages being built quicker than quicksilver it has become obvious that shareholders are the only real beneficiaries and this has come at a great cost to retirement people.

In the majority of retirement villages there is a clause that states that they are a license to occupy.

In other words one does not get a freehold title and when one decides to exit or passes on, they are really only occupiers while they live there.

This has come at a great cost to retirement people. In a lot of cases one believes they do not realise - or in some cases don't understand or don't care - that there is this exit clause that goes direct to shareholders instead of their family members.

In other words retirement people are paying an exorbitant price for their retirement.

John O'Rourke, Tauranga City.