Aged care centre operator accused of charging residents the same day they were forced to leave - ABC Local

Lorraine Cook sits with her husband John who is laying on a bed.

The operator of an aged care centre that closed on Thursday afternoon extracted a monthly charge from the bank accounts of at least two residents on the same day they were made homeless, family members have told the ABC.

Key points:

Elizabeth Brown says her mother was charged $2,500 as she was being forced out of Earle Haven
Lorraine Cook says the same thing happened to her "while all this fracas was going on"
HelpStreet's legal team says they will be making no further comment

A contract dispute between the owners of Earle Haven Retirement Village at Nerang and the contractor running the Gold Coast facility left more than 70 vulnerable elderly residents in limbo when it was shut down about 2:00pm on Thursday.

But HelpStreet Group, which operated the centre, has been accused of still collecting money as the shutdown proceeded.

Elizabeth Brown's mother, who has dementia, was one of those evacuated from Earle Haven.

Ms Brown told the ABC on Friday afternoon that $2,500 was withdrawn from their account to pay for next month's services.

"I received a tax invoice on the 10th and it indicates, as per normal, that the payment is due on the 20th of July," she said.

"However, I contacted the bank this afternoon and they have indicated that the payment came out yesterday on the 11th of July."

Lorraine Cook's husband had only arrived at Earle Haven last week before being one of those forced to leave.

Ms Cook also confirmed the payment due on July 20 was taken from her account on Thursday.

The entrance at the front of the Earle Haven nursing home.

"While all this fracas was going on yesterday, they took money out of everybody's account early," Ms Cook said.

"I rang around and told a lot of people about it but it's too late. They've already done it.

"It's not their money. They won't be there to do the care so they shouldn't have taken it."

She said her husband was "very, very confused, like most of them down there".

The ABC contacted HelpStreet's legal team who said they would not be making any further comment.

Ms Brown said she had not been contacted by HelpStreet.

"I'm beyond disappointed. The staff were lovely and I was there a fortnight ago. They were so nice. It is so disappointing that it could come to this for those elderly people," she said.

Ms Brown said the one good thing was that her mother was coping well.

"One potential upside to dementia, she think it's a lovely place. It's got some nice artwork. So look, that is a positive."

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