AAP:

The Queensland-based company at the centre of a legal dispute which led elderly residents to believe they would be evicted from their retirement villages says it could not have handled the affair any differently.

The residents in NSW, Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania were faced with the prospect of being kicked out next month after the company in charge of running the 10 villages where they lived terminated its leases on the properties.

The decision by Village Life, one of Australia's biggest retirement home operators, sparked outrage and prompted questions about the security of lease agreements for retirement homes.

The embattled operator - which is in trouble with the Australian Tax Office and faces an imminent class action from angry investors - says it must end its leases on the facilities because they are too "financially onerous".

Uncertainty surrounded the future of the residents when the owner of the 10 properties, MFS Diversified Group, revealed it would be unable to take over the management of the villages.

Rival operator SCV Group, formerly known as SunnyCove Management, last week stepped in and signed a 25-year deal to take over the management of the 10 villages, four of which are in NSW.

At an extraordinary general meeting in Brisbane on Tuesday, Village Life shareholders voted to allow SVC to take over the villages' management.

Village Life chairman Greg Gardiner said the company handled the matter as best it could.

"I'm not aware of what Village Life could have done any differently at all," he said.

"It looked to the interests of its residents and I'm very impressed with the way that our staff stood up to the plate and did everything possible to assist them in what was a very difficult time."

Mr Gardiner said the onus was on MFS Diversified to find a replacement operator, and he anticipated that SCV would step in.

"There's no shortage of operators to operate the villages," he said.

Consumer Affairs Victoria is investigating any wrongdoing by Village Life while the NSW government will set up a high-level taskforce to examine the SCV deal to ensure the residents would not face a similar situation again.

Village Life is now planning to return to the development arena.

Mr Gardiner predicted the company would be more successful in future operations.

"We start on a clean basis," he said.

"We have some very good expertise in the company and we have every confidence that it will be more successful, bearing in mind it was successful that the company developed the largest group of retirement villages in the country."

© 2007 AAP