Participants have rights in relation to both their home and the supports they receive. Where one organisation provides accommodation and Supported Independent Living (SIL) services, it is especially important that tenancy and support remain separate.
The Get My Course Tenancy Rights for SIL Workers short course introduces the practical principles that protect participant choice and independence. Learn the difference between a tenancy or occupancy agreement and a service agreement, and understand why neither should be conditional on the other.
Explore conflicts of interest, a participant’s right to change SIL providers, access to advocacy, service agreement requirements and retribution-free complaints processes. The course also covers how to support accessible communication and maintain records that demonstrate agreements and rights were explained in practice.
Apply your learning alongside your provider’s policies, current NDIS requirements and relevant tenancy laws.
Practical resources you can keep and use whenever needed.
Revisit key information about tenancy separation, provider choice, advocacy, agreements and documentation.
Reinforce your learning and test your understanding through practical, non-graded activities.
Apply tenancy rights principles and check that information, consent, referrals and reviews are not overlooked.
Course outcomes
Explain the difference between tenancy and support agreements
Recognise when housing and support arrangements have become improperly linked
Help participants understand agreements in accessible formats
Identify conflicts of interest in dual-role arrangements
Support a participant’s right to change SIL providers
Provide information about tenancy rights and advocacy options
Recognise the six required service agreement matters
Support complaints about both tenancy and support services
Recognise and escalate possible retribution after a complaint
Record explanations, understanding, consent and referrals accurately
Identify documentation gaps before they become compliance concerns
On the job
A participant believes they will lose their home if they change SIL providers.
Explain that tenancy and support are separate and raise the misunderstanding with the appropriate supervisor.
A participant is asked to sign tenancy and service documents in one rushed meeting.
Recognise the need for separate explanations and meaningful understanding before signing.
The same organisation manages a participant’s home and provides their support.
Understand the dual role, identify the conflict of interest and support appropriate disclosure.
A participant asks about notice periods or leaving the service.
Provide accessible information and offer a named advocacy or legal referral.
A participant wants to change SIL providers.
Reassure them that their tenancy should not be used as leverage and follow the documented change process.
A service agreement does not explain how co-tenant conflict or visitors will be managed.
Identify the gap and raise it for review.
A participant makes a complaint and their support changes soon afterwards.
Recognise a possible retribution concern and report the sequence for monitoring.
An explanation or consent conversation was not recorded.
Record the gap promptly, note the delay and escalate it for correction.
Six simple steps
After successfully meeting the course requirements, learners will receive a Certificate of Completion for the Get My Course Tenancy Rights for SIL Workers short course. You will also have your downloadable Course Pack for continued learning and workplace reference.
Certificate of Completion
Awarded once you meet all course requirements.
This is non-accredited training. The Certificate of Completion is not a nationally recognised qualification or Statement of Attainment.
A participant’s home should not be used as leverage over their support choices. Separating tenancy from support helps people make informed decisions about services without fearing they will lose their housing.
Clear, accessible agreements help participants understand their rights, responsibilities and options. They also help workers recognise when a participant needs advocacy, further explanation or management review.
Good documentation demonstrates that rights were explained and supported in practice. It helps providers respond to concerns, monitor complaints and identify gaps before they affect participant choice or housing security.
Tenancy separation means a participant’s right to live in their home and the disability supports they receive are governed by two independent agreements.
A dual-role arrangement exists when the same organisation manages or provides the accommodation and also delivers the participant’s SIL supports.
The provider may have an interest in retaining both the accommodation and support arrangements. This could affect a participant’s ability to make a free choice about changing providers unless the conflict is disclosed and managed.
The course is designed for SIL workers, disability support workers, team leaders, supervisors, service coordinators and people preparing to work in disability or home and living services.
You can start anytime. Enrol online and begin learning when it suits you.
No. This is a non-accredited Professional Development Short Course. Successful learners receive a Certificate of Completion.
Participants have the right to change their support provider. A provider-change request should be handled through the documented process, and tenancy should not be used as a reason to discourage the change.
Arrange an accessible explanation, use the participant’s preferred communication method, check understanding and document the conversation and any follow-up required.
The agreement should address how concerns about the home are raised, co-tenant conflicts are managed, changes to circumstances and support needs are agreed, vacancies are filled, behaviours of concern affecting tenancy are managed and visitors can be supported safely.
It is a process that allows participants to raise support or tenancy concerns without their support quality, tenancy status or access to services being negatively affected.
Offer advocacy information proactively and make a specific referral when a participant has a tenancy concern, is reviewing an agreement, is considering a provider change or needs help to raise a complaint.
It may include separate agreements, explanation records, consent and understanding records, conflict of interest disclosures, provider-change records, advocacy referrals, complaints and follow-up monitoring.
Raise the sequence with the appropriate manager so it can be checked and documented as part of retribution monitoring.
Yes. Download the Reference Guide, Workbook and Workplace Checklist and keep them for future reference alongside current agreements and workplace procedures.
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Learn to protect housing choice, explain rights clearly and support participants to make informed decisions about their home and services.
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