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AAP
AAP
Politics
William Ton

NSW aged care residents face off against home provider

An advocate for the seniors says they have not been offered suitable alternative accommodation. (Lukas Coch/AAP PHOTOS) (AAP)

A group of seniors are in a battle with their aged care provider, defying requests to vacate the facility after it was announced the home is closing.

Nine residents are adamant they want to stay in the retirement home in the northern NSW town of Byron Bay, refusing the push from provider Feros Care for them to move out.

The aged care centre said in a statement the facility has to close after it no longer met the federal government's higher requirements for residential aged care.

It was slated to close on Wednesday but due to the refusal of residents to leave, it will continue to operate - but not indefinitely.

Byron Bay councillor and lawyer Mark Swivel said the residents were given a reprieve after Feros Care said it wouldn't evict them, but they remained in limbo.

Feros Care announced the closure in February and was in the process of helping residents find suitable alternative accommodation before the site could shut its doors.

The councillor, who is also acting for those affected, said they have not been offered suitable or affordable alternative accommodation, and residents enjoyed living there.

Feros Care is considering plans to knock down the facility and rebuild the site as an "affordable seniors' accommodation".

But Mr Swivel said the aged care provider had failed to communicate its plans to the residents.

"They didn't even get approval for a redevelopment to begin with," he said.

"And then they assumed that people would move on."

The plot of land is dedicated Crown land and would need approval from the NSW government to be redeveloped.

The provider said the home was built 33 years ago as a low care hostel and "was not designed or built to the standards and requirements of a residential aged care site".

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