Part 2: Board and other payments to your SDA Provider
Sections discussed below:
Can my landlord charge me board?
If your SDA landlord also provides you with other services – like making your meals or washing your clothes – they can ask you to pay more than the maximum rent. When you pay for extra services with your rent it is often called ‘board’.
The most your SDA landlord can ask you to pay in board is equal to:
- 50% of the Disability Support Pension (DSP), including the Pension Supplement
PLUS
- 100% of the Energy Supplement
In April 2024, the maximum an SDA landlord can charge in board is $565.20 per fortnight.
To charge you the maximum board amount, your landlord must:
- Make your meals and provide related things like snacks, tea, coffee and sugar
- Pay your water, electricity, gas and internet bills
- Provide kitchen and laundry facilities
- Provide furniture for the common areas areas of your home, such as the lounge room, dining room and kitchen
If you choose, your SDA landlord must let you use someone else to provide these things. Your SDA provider can’t charge you board for goods or services you don’t use.
Example: You and your SDA landlord agree that you will buy all your own food at the supermarket. Your board can’t include an amount for food, even if your SDA landlord supplies food to other residents in your home and charges them for it.
Can my SDA landlord increase the rent I am paying?
Yes, but this is based on the DSP and CRA, which are updated every 6 months (in March and September each year).
In Victoria, Queensland, Northern Territory and Western Australia, the maximum rent your SDA provider can ask for changes when the DSP and CRA are updated. But in New South Wales, the ACT, Tasmania and South Australia, landlords can only put up your rent once every 12 months. This includes SDA providers.
In the Northern Territory, your landlord needs to let you know 30 days before they plan to increase your rent. Everywhere else in Australia, your landlord needs to let you know 60 days before. This includes SDA providers.
Can I choose to pay more than the maximum rent to my SDA landlord?
Yes. You may want to live in an SDA home that costs more than the type of SDA you are funded for in your NDIS Plan, even though SDA that matches the funding in your plan is available. In this case, you are allowed to pay more to the SDA landlord.
Example: A person who has funding in their NDIS Plan to live in a 2-resident Fully Accessible SDA Villa/Duplex/Townhouse wants to live in a 1-resident Fully Accessible townhouse. They could ask the SDA landlord whether they can pay extra rent to live in the townhouse on their own. If the person and landlord agree, they can ask the NDIS if this is okay.
Can I be my own SDA landlord?
Some people build or buy their own SDA home and use the SDA payments to repay the home loan – more info here.
Read these two other related pages to gain a deeper understanding of Reasonable Rent Contributions:
Part 1: How Rent Works in Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA)