An SDA residency agreement is a standard form, which can be downloaded from the Consumer Affairs Victoria website.
The SDA provider must give you a copy of the agreement.
The agreement will cover things like:
- the furniture in your room
- your rent
- other costs you may have to pay, such as for gas and electricity
- any house rules, such as sharing costs with other residents
- how you are to care for your home and how you are to relate to others you may live with
- repairs and maintenance
- when the SDA provider can come into your home or room
- that you have the right to see a Community Visitor
- how to make a complaint to your SDA provider.
What if I want to leave and find another place to live?
You can give your provider a notice of intention to vacate if you want to end the agreement and move out of the property.
This must be in writing and include the date you will be moving out.
You can download the notice and other information from the Consumer Affairs Victoria website.
Your SDA provider must then tell OPA that you have given this notice.
Someone from OPA or a Community Visitor may call to talk to you about why you want to leave.
You can always ask for a visit from a Community Visitor.
If you leave your home, the National Disability Insurance Agency may review your NDIS plan to see if you still need SDA. If you do not need SDA any more, it will be hard for you to move into another SDA property.
What if my provider wants me to leave my home?
Your provider may give you a notice of temporary relocation. This means that you need to move out of your home until the end date on the notice.
Your provider must find you somewhere suitable to live until you can come back.
Your provider can give you a notice of temporary relocation for a number of reasons, such as:
- you make other residents or staff feel unsafe
- you are a danger to yourself or others
- you can no longer be properly supported at your home
- you have caused serious damage to your home
- your home needs repairing or renovating.
You can download the notice and other information from the Consumer Affairs Victoria website.
Your provider must also tell the following that it has given you a notice of temporary relocation:
- the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), which runs the NDIS
- OPA
- Consumer Affairs Victoria
- the person who supports you in your home (called a ‘Supported Independent Living provider’ or ‘SIL provider’).
Someone from OPA or a Community Visitor will contact you to discuss the notice.
If your provider gives you a notice to vacate, this means you must move out for good.
You can only be given a notice to vacate in certain limited circumstances. For example, if you owe more than 14 days rent or if the house is to be sold on the basis that no-one is living there.
The notice to vacate must tell you why you are getting the notice.
You will have at least 90 days before you have to move out.
You can apply to VCAT for a review of the notice in that 90 days.
The SDA provider can withdraw the notice at any time before the 90 days are up.
In most cases, you will get a notice to relocate before you receive the notice to vacate. For example, if:
- you have endangered the safety of others
- you have caused serious disruption to others at your home
- you can no longer be properly supported at your home
- it is necessary for your safety or wellbeing
- you have caused serious damage to your home
- your home needs repairing or renovating.
This is so that, while you are in your temporary relocation accommodation, people can work to resolve any issues and you can return home.
Office of the Public Advocate
