A person living in a supported independent living arrangement is in two relationships at once. One is about where they live — their right to occupy the home, the rent or contribution they pay for it, the conditions of staying there. The other is about who supports them — the disability support workers, the rostered hours, the personal care, the help to cook and clean and get to appointments. These are genuinely different things. The problem is that, for years, a lot of SIL paperwork has treated them as one.
Two relationships, not one
Put plainly:
- Tenancy / occupancy = housing. It answers "do I have a secure place to live?" It's governed by the occupancy or residential tenancy arrangement and, in many cases, by state or territory tenancy law.
- Service = support. It answers "who helps me live here, and how?" It's the SIL support governed by your SIL service agreement and the NDIS Practice Standards.
The 2026 reform's core principle is that these two should be able to stand or fall independently. A participant should be able to change support providers without packing a suitcase. A participant who has a falling-out with a worker, or whose behaviour-support situation gets difficult, should not be facing homelessness as a consequence. That is the harm the Housing and Support Security outcome is written to stop.
Why so many SIL agreements blur the line
It usually isn't malice — it's history and convenience. Three patterns we see repeatedly:
- One document for everything. A single "SIL agreement" that bundles the rent, the house rules, and the support hours into one signature. Convenient to sign; dangerous because ending the support arguably ends the whole agreement — including the housing.
- Eviction-by-the-back-door clauses. Terms that say if the participant stops using the provider's support, they must vacate within X days. That ties the roof to the support contract directly.
- Same entity, no firewall. The provider owns or head-leases the property and delivers the support, with no documented separation, so in practice the participant's home depends entirely on keeping the provider happy.
Each of these reads, to a 2026 auditor, as a failure to protect security of tenure. They are exactly the kind of thing the Bigby review into supported accommodation flagged, and exactly what the new standard's Tenancy Management focus is sampling for.
SIL vs SDA: which is the housing?
It's worth getting the acronyms straight, because they map directly onto the two relationships:
| Term | What it is |
|---|---|
| SDA | Specialist Disability Accommodation — the housing. The physical dwelling, often purpose-built or modified, funded as a capital/housing support. |
| SIL | Supported Independent Living — the support delivered to the participant living in the home. The rostered disability support, not the building. |
The NDIS Commission's wider reform program includes reviewing options for the legal and practical separation of SIL and SDA — so that the entity that houses a participant and the entity that supports them are distinguishable. Even where one organisation does both, the documentation should reflect two separate relationships, not one fused arrangement. Our SDA guide covers the housing side in more depth.
Get a SIL service agreement that already separates tenancy from support
The SIL Rescue Kit's service agreement is written to keep the support terms separate from any tenancy or occupancy terms, with a transition clause that protects the participant's housing. 74 editable, Practice-Standards-mapped documents — $297 one-time. Read every page free before you buy.
See what's in the kit →What belongs in the tenancy doc vs the service agreement
The clean structure is two documents that reference each other but can survive each other. Here's the split:
| Belongs in the tenancy / occupancy doc | Belongs in the SIL service agreement |
|---|---|
| Right to occupy the home and on what terms | The disability supports you deliver and the hours |
| Rent / contribution to housing costs | How support is rostered, recorded, and reviewed |
| House rules tied to living there (shared spaces, guests) | Participant goals the support is linked to |
| How and when occupancy can end, and notice | How and when the support arrangement can end, and notice |
| What protects the participant's housing if support ends | That ending support does not, by itself, end housing |
The two should cross-reference each other in plain language so a participant can read where their housing rights come from and see that those rights survive a change of support provider. If you only update one document before 1 July 2026, make the service agreement the priority — that's the one the SIL audit samples directly.
When you provide both the home and the support
Many small SIL providers do both — they head-lease or own the property and roster the support. That's allowed, but it creates a conflict of interest that the new standard expects you to manage transparently rather than pretend away. Practically:
- Disclose it. Tell the participant, in writing, that you provide both their home and their support, and what that means for them.
- Firewall the decisions. A dispute about support shouldn't be decided by the same person who can end the tenancy. Document how the two decisions are kept separate.
- Protect the exit. Spell out that if the participant changes support providers, their housing continues, and how a new support provider can come in.
- Record the participant's choice. Show the participant was supported to understand they can change support without changing home — this ties straight into the Supported Decision-Making outcome too.
How to fix your agreement before 1 July 2026
- Pull your current SIL agreement and read it for fusion. Anywhere ending support could end housing is a flag.
- Split it into two documents (or clearly separated parts): an occupancy/tenancy arrangement and a SIL service agreement.
- Add a security-of-tenure clause: ending support does not end the participant's right to remain in their home.
- Add a conflict-of-interest disclosure if you provide both.
- Map it to Outcome 4 with a header line so the auditor finds it instantly, and keep the evidence (signed agreements, the participant's understanding recorded) on file.
- Re-check against the final SIL module when the Commission publishes it before 1 July 2026.
If drafting two clean, defensible documents from scratch isn't where you want to spend your week, the SIL Rescue Kit's service agreement already does the separation, and the SIL audit survival guide shows how it maps to the rest of the evidence an assessor expects.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between tenancy and service in SIL?
Tenancy (or occupancy) is the participant's right to live in the home — it's housing. Service is the disability support delivered to them in that home — it's the SIL support. Under the 2026 SIL Practice Standards they should be documented separately so that ending one does not automatically end the other.
Can a SIL provider evict a participant for ending support?
The Housing and Support Security outcome is designed to prevent this. A participant should not lose their housing because of a support-related issue, including changing support provider. Where you provide both the home and the support, the conflict of interest must be managed transparently and the participant's security of tenure protected.
Why is the NDIS separating SIL and SDA?
SDA is the housing; SIL is the support delivered in it. The Commission's reform work includes reviewing the legal and practical separation of SIL and SDA so the entity supporting a participant and the entity housing them are distinguishable, and a support dispute doesn't threaten the participant's home.
Important: This article provides general guidance about NDIS SIL documentation and reflects the draft 2026 SIL Practice Standards. It is not legal or professional advice, and tenancy arrangements may also be governed by state or territory law. Always verify current requirements with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission and seek legal advice on tenancy documents before acting.