The National Disability Insurance Scheme provides support to people with a disability along with their families and carers. The scheme is funded by Australian Federal and State Governments to assist people to access better housing, health, education, and community services.

In order for a property to become available to NDIS participants seeking SDA, the property needs to be enrolled and compliant according to SDA Rules, and the property must be managed by a registered SDA provider.

SDA providers connect NDIS participants with investors and developers who provide “high quality, fit-for-purpose, and innovative dwellings.” This means that housing providers are not funded directly from the NDIS, but rather through the individual participants, who have their own approved SDA budget as part of their NDIS funding. (It is also possible for NDIS participants and non-participants to share the same accommodation, with rents for each being separately negotiated).

The SDA payments that participants receive will be based on their funding level, the size of the dwelling, its location, and the accessibility it provides. These payments are designed to cover the costs incurred in the bricks and mortar construction of the property, and offer a return on investment (ROI) at market rates of up to 15%pa, though a conservative range would be 9%-12%pa.

There will be a variety of platforms available for providers to find tenants, and there is also the option for SDA properties to be made available in other markets as well.

The funding for Specialist Disability Accommodation provides an investor with an above average rental income for putting their hand up to provide SDA accommodation. If a disabled person is assessed as requiring Specialist Disability Accommodation, funding will be included in their NDIS plan to cover any disability related housing costs that are above the ordinary costs of housing for them and their support coordinator. Funding is used to source the most appropriate accommodation in the marketplace for themselves.

Some participants in the NDIS will receive funding for SDA. SDA stands for ‘Specialised Disability Accommodation’ and is a system created under the NDIS for people with high support housing needs to ensure they are able live independently and also receive support they require whilst at home in specially designed or adapted homes to help deliver their support needs.
SDA service providers hold the head lease and oversee the process of securing accommodation for the tenants. The SDA provider has an agreement in place with SIL providers (care services) and their role is to ensure the house has tenants and is maintained to high standard. They deal with all the related NDIS agencies and are the only entity who can handle SDA payments. They also ensure that RRC payments are managed from the tenants.

All SDA providers must be registered with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission.

An SDA provider may or may not own the dwelling and may or may not include:

• Private landlords
• Family members of people with disability
• Organisations (not-for-profit or for-profit)

An SDA provider will receive funding from the NDIA and can also charge controlled rent directly from each resident. The NDIA payment is a contribution to the cost of capital and a contribution to the associated business activities and costs relevant to the delivery of SDA: for example, property maintenance and vacancy procedures.

The NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) provides the SDA funding for people whose disability or ongoing very high support needs require special accommodation which enables them to receive housing, care and onsite support by their carer.The NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) provides the SDA funding for people whose disability or ongoing very high support needs require special accommodation which enables them to receive housing, care and onsite support by their carer.

There are 4 levels of NDIS SDA homes each designed for a different level of disability and care:

• Improved Livability – built to LHA Silver Level
• Fully Accessible – built to LHA Platinum Level
• Robust – built to LHA Silver Level
• High Physical Support – built to LHA Platinum Level

This is a Reasonable Rental Contribution (RRC) paid by the tenant, capped at 25% of the base rate of the Disability Support Pension and 100% of any Commonwealth Rental Assistance scheme. This is the same for the participant no matter where they live; it is approximately $9,700 p/a per person.

Supported Independent Living (SIL) is the support or supervision of daily tasks to live independently. Supported Disability Accommodation (SDA), on the other hand, is the ‘bricks and mortar’ component for people with disability who have severe functional impairment or highly complex support needs that require specialist housing alternatives.

The SDA policy is an ambitious initiative requiring $5Bn to build housing. Government cannot achieve this and thus launched the $700M a year NDIS Scheme to create an investor and user driven market.

The policy aims to empower people with disability to decide where they live and who they live with. The package of support includes annual funding to pay for the cost of their housing where the participant has a separate amount in their package to pay for their attendant care support needs to live independently in our communities.

It is anticipated that the SDA pricing and framework will continue for 20 years, after which your property will revert to the general market.

The NDIS’s SDA funding scheme will provide accessible housing for those Australians with a disability who require specialised housing. Housing is delivered through an ongoing subsidy for people with a disability to access housing.

Before NDIS was implemented, the funding for housing people with disabilities mostly came from governments or non-profit providers using upfront capital grants. As banks have started to become lenient and are lending to finance SDA projects, there is a growing appetite among investors for investing in SDA housing projects.

• Out of the 870,000 participants expected to be receiving  NDIS funding by 2030, an estimated 52,000 of them will qualify for SDA.
• Currently, there are around 14,000 people residing in accommodation that is inappropriate for them, because it doesn’t meet their needs, they are isolated from the community, and they really have no choice.
• These 14,000 are likely living in residential aged care, government housing, hostels, or with family in unsuitable situations (inappropriate design, living with aging parents, etc).
• Additionally, there is a need to replace existing old homes with contemporary SDA. This means the real demand for new housing could be as high as 20,000 new dwellings over the next 8 years, as current SDA tenants in basic and legacy housing look for alternative housing.
• Sadly, only around 2200 new dwellings have been built as of September 2021.
• There is an incredible need and a chronically short supply.

The SDA scheme is designed to address the massive undersupply. Demand is not the problem here, and if you can build the right home in the right location for the participants, then your property will not face the problem of vacancy.

Furthermore, the government wants to motivate private investment with $5 billion to encourage the build of brand-new residential properties built for inclusion in the scheme. The government has committed $700M per annum in the SDA scheme funding from the overall NDIS budget of $22B planned over 20 years.

Your investment property not only provides rental income for yourself, but it provides the perfect home for Australians with disabilities – moving them out of inappropriate aged and other institutionalised care and place them in suitable housing. This is a perfect example of ‘Impact Investing’ – a win-win situation.

NPA provides an ‘end to end’ solution for clients.

From assisting with land acquisition, and the vetting of builders, to connecting you with SDA providers who have participants that might be suited to proposed homes being built.

We can provide you with a choice of investment options based on properties that are being developed and built specifically to be SDA compliant, for instance, or connect you with relevant industry professionals to guide you through the process of applying for NDIS investment finance and completing a purchase.

Our connections within the NDIS market, combined with our industry knowledge and experience in land acquisition and construction of homes, means that we can assist you in not only finding tenants for your property but also the ongoing maintenance and upkeep by recommending a well qualified SDA provider.

At NPA, we work very closely with the builders for the designs and pricing of houses, and also various land developers to secure ‘correct sized’ land lots for these builders to build upon.

The houses and the location are chosen and custom-built for the waiting participant’s (disability tenants) needs under the guidance of the providers, who keep a finger on the pulse of market demand, courtesy of statistics provided by the NDIA.

So in essence, the info gathered from NDIS ecosystem shows the areas which have a high demand for SDA homes, and thus the builder will work with the provider to identify the areas and ensure the designs of homes proposed are compliant. From there land is sourced and build designs and inclusions are packaged up by the builders we work with, for the specific needs of waiting participants, in the areas which have pent-up demand. 

The land and location must meet SDA requirements, so not just any block in any location will be suitable. SDA funding is running nationally, and SDA Homes can be built Australia wide. The location needs to be close to amenities such as health care, employment hubs and transport. The land must have no more than a 7-degree slope to the road to be approved.

Some lenders have become lenient when it comes to lending money for SDA projects and property. Besides providing home loans for participants, lenders are encouraging investment loans for family, friends or any interested investor. Since there is a 20 year rental backing  from the government for SDA property, lenders should be willing to lend to investors with a deposit of 20%, but we still recommend investors have a large amount of cash available to consider this opportunity. Here are some ways you can get a loan approved for SDA funding:

• Find an SDA compliant builder who knows the requirements of the participants.
• Get a deposit of at least 20% so you do not have to pay LMI.
• A good credit history.
• Exceptional credit score
• Stable employment with good income.
• Build a house that has an adaptable design to accommodate people with different disabilities

The investor can sell the property as per standard Real Estate legislation requirements or the investor has the option to roll over their agreement and continue the NDIS as Existing NDIS stock once the 20 year period is up.

Yes, you can, but if borrowing only as a single contract. This would normally mean you would need to purchase the property in cash from your SMSF. Only single contract purchases can be purchased in a SMSF, not a 2-part contract purchase.
Click here for more information on purchasing a NDIS property with your SMSF.

A Family Trust is worth considering for holding this type of investment due to its tax benefits, but we suggest you speak to your Accountant or Financial Advisor for advice. We can refer you to a planner, accountant or broker to assist.

Currently we have NDIS SDA homes available throughout the country. Our properties are spread between regional and more central areas due to the demand for disability housing. We are taking a cautious approach to housing placement, fully aware that we don’t want to see an oversupply of property in any area. Once we have placed tenants in our current supply of properties, we will then continue to work with Service providers, to create an ongoing balance between supply and demand.

We will refer clients to an appropriate Housing Provider to assist, however, each investor is free to engage whichever Housing Provider they wish in order to procure participants for the home.

An SDA Provider, once engaged, will be the specialist property management company that works with NDIS Service Providers in assisting their NDIS clients to apply for and be placed in suitable Specialist Disability Accommodation. This process starts as soon as the finance has been approved and prior to commencement of build, with the intention of having the property occupied as soon as possible after the property is completed.

Most likely, yes, but there are no guarantees. With careful planning and working with an efficient provider, and the vetting in advance of potential participants, one would hope that tenants will be ready to move in on completion of the new home. However there is no guarantee that this will always happen on day one, and one must assume a short period of time between house completion and transition to bring the participants into accommodation. This all depends on the area chosen and the number of participants in the waiting list. 

While there is a massive demand and shortage, there is absolutely zero guarantee that anyone – the Real Estate Agent, or the SDA Provider, or the SIL Provider or the Builder – will guarantee you tenants. It’s simply impossible to do that and anyone doing this is to be avoided.

However, based on research undertaken, many disabled SDA residents want to “stay for life”, when they are in appropriate accommodation and our team have mitigated that risk as much as possible, thanks to the process of building the design of the home according to participants requirements in the area and consulting with the SDA provider(s) as to whom they have on their waiting list for accommodation. Sometimes, we may only build once we have participants qualified and thus build to their specific requirements (custom build) but this will add considerably to the price tag. Then, and only then, is there is a very strong chance that the property will be tenanted quickly after completion of the brand new house. The provider must be approved with NDIS, and the builder needs to be approved by NDIS, and the house package must be approved by NDIS.

We are not going to the market to find a ‘block of dirt’ to get a house ‘plonked onto it’ just to leave it empty. That’s not what we do!

When our team put a property together, the steps are:

1. Coordinate with the care organisation and meet the need where they have existing demand.
2. Test demand in new areas by placing ads to get interest or applications from tenants.
3. After establishing demand, we first need to find land that complies with the NDIS specifications.
4. After identifying sites we then need to confirm that the location meets the requirements of the care organisations.
5. Determine the right house design wanted by the care provider can be placed on the land.
6. Present property package to our investors (i.e. you)
7. Take sales advice deposit from you, the investor.
8. Have the sales contracts for the land and construction drawn up from the land developer and the builder.
   Note: we have fixed-price contracts with zero variations allowed to eliminate any surprises during construction.
9. Contracts are signed and returned to the builders and you enter the standard finance period before moving onto unconditional.
10. Upon moving to the land settlement or slab phase of construction, the care provider needs to be engaged by the investor to begin the process of vetting tenants on-boarded into the SDA. This gives them about 6-9 months to have tenants prepared and ready to move in on completion of the new home.

What we say to anyone looking at investing in NDIS property, is that the absolute WORST CASE SCENARIO is that the house can be rented on the open market at market rate, eg $500/w, if there are no participants available to rent the brand new home. Yields would be about 5.0% pa usually, but the likelihood of this happening is very unlikely. The demand right now, is very strong, especially in Queensland as the program is quite new and there are many more participants than properties. If you are building an NDIS home in an area where there are 40 people on the waiting list to find accommodation, then the chances of having a vacant home funded by the government with free 24/7 care provided for free, is impossible to fathom.

P.S – assume you get only one tenant who is a High Physical Support participant with an OOA, and the other two rooms are vacant for the rest of the year, this means the rental income is $41,926 + $9,762 = $51,688 pa, just from this one room only. This is twice as much as you would get if you were to lease the entire home to a family at $500 per week.

A separate lease agreement is signed with each tenant, and these are usually for a 2 year lease.

RRC is paid fortnightly and NDIS payment processed monthly.

Like all ongoing investment property ownership, there is always the risk of losing a Tenant. Although research has shown that once someone with a disability finds a home they are happy with, they don’t ever want to move. Once your property has been enrolled and tenanted initially, the NDIS has allowances for vacancy payments while other participants are sourced (NDIS SDA portion only). Providers have an obligation to find another participant and in most cases have participants on a waiting list. The amounts covered are for up to 60 days for properties with 2 or 3 participant rooms, and for up to 90 days for properties with 4 or 5 participant rooms.

The lease management agreement between the provider and landlord can be issued as 2 x 10 years or 4 x 5 years. SILs prefer long term leases, as this suits the client’s needs best, so there is no expectation for them to leave after the first lease term and remember that the house design has been built around their specific needs, so there is little benefit to leaving accommodation which suits the tenants.

Please note that to get the benefit of the SDA payments, the tenant must fulfil the requirements needed for either Improved Liveability, Fully Accessible, Robust or High Physical Support. Some of the improvements required according to the Design Category are:

• Improved livability: Luminance contrasts, improved way finding and/or line of sight.
• Fully accessible: External doors and external outdoor areas accessible by wheelchairs, bathroom or hand basin and the kitchen sink, cook top, oven, laundry, etc. that is accessible in seated or standing position, power supply to doors and windows (retrofit of automation).
• Robust: Must be very resilient and use inconspicuous materials that can withstand heavy use and minimises the risk of injury like; high impact wall lining, fittings and fixtures, secure windows, doors and external areas, appropriate soundproofing (if needed), laminated glass.
• High physical support: External doors and external outdoor private areas accessible by wheelchair, bathroom vanity/hand basin, kitchen sink, cook top, meal preparation area and key appliances accessible in seating or standing position, structural provision for ceiling hoists, assistive technology, heating/cooling, household communication technology (video intercom system), emergency power solutions that can withstand at least 2 hours of outage where the welfare of the participant is at risk, doors with 950mm minimum clear opening width to all habitable rooms. 

The figures below are gross estimates based on ‘House’ building type, and may vary slightly based on the location factor:

• 2 x High Physical Support $89,984 + RRC $19,523 (Total p/a approx. $109,508)

• 3 x High Physical Support $124,520 + RRC $29,286 (Total p/a approx. $153,806)

• 2 x Robust $80,298 + RRC $19,523 (Total p/a approx. $99,822)

• 3 x Robust $100,609 + RRC $29,286 (Total p/a approx. $129,895)

• 2 x Fully Accessible $68,628 + RRC $19,523 (Total p/a approx. $88,152)

• 3 x Fully Accessible $85,560 + RRC $29,286 (Total p/a approx. $114,846)

• 2 x Improved Livability $49,950 + RRC $19,523 (Total p/a approx. $69,474)

• 3 x Improved Livability $58,204 + RRC $29,286 (Total p/a approx. $87,489)

Payments for an NDIS SDA property are paid differently to that of a non NDIS property. Your rental payments will be paid to you from the provider at the end of each calendar month.
The SDA payment from the NDIS is a standardised annual amount calculated based on the dwellings location, size and level of accessibility. This is on a per tenant basis.
Each Tenant’s payment is made up of 3 parts;

• Fair rent contribution (25% of base disability supplement): paid fortnightly by the participant (tenant)
• 100% Commonwealth Rent Assistance: paid fortnightly by the participant (tenant)
• NDIS SDA Payment: paid quarterly in arrears.

Once the NDIS participant becomes eligible for SDA and has the funding added to their NDIS plans, they can go to the market and choose a property they’d like to stay in. Depending on their funding level and what suits their personal needs, they have the options to choose from single-occupancy apartments to shared facilities like villas and group houses. The property must be registered with NDIS as an SDA compliant property in one of the four categories below:

• Fully Accessible
• Robust
• High Physical Support
• Improved Liveability

The provider (property manager) would then receive payments from the NDIS and Department of Social Services (DSS) which are then paid to the investor.

You only get paid once the participant starts living in the property.

A SDA home must be managed by a property manager that is registered SDA service provider under the NDIS. There are very strict practices that have to be adhered to when working with people in the disability sector and only an authorised SDA provider can manage your property.

The properties are leased directly to the Participant so that SIL and other Service Providers can continue their high-care services without the organisation worrying about leasing or property management requirements.

Under current NDIS SDA policy the enrolment application commences as soon as you have received the certificate of practical completion from your builder, and we are in receipt of the required documentation. New policies are being introduced throughout the year and we will hopefully see the introduction of pre-certification of SDA dwellings. (This is a pre enrollment approval pending completion of your build as per requirements of relevant codes and NDIS SDA requirements).

Compliance is checked at several stages throughout the process.

1. At the plan stage
Before committing to the land and build contracts, the package goes in for initial certification with the SDA certifiers. This then goes into local council fo Building approval like a normal house build.

2. At the frame stage
The certifier will come to the site to ensure that the approved plan is matched.

3. At completion
Final certification will happen when the home is at Practical Completion. This process ensures that the investor will be able to receive SDA funding. Without certification the house will never be able to have NDIS/SDA tenants and therefore will not receive the high returns.

The Specialist Disability Accomodation (SDA) design standards released on October 25th 2019, supersede the Livable Housing Design guidelines that SDA had been based on until now.

The release of the standards means that from 1st July, 2021, all applications to enrol a dwelling for Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) will be required to include a certificate from an Accredited SDA Assessor.

SDA assessors will as a part of the certification process, nominate the Design Category the dwelling satisfies based on the Design Standards.

The new Design standards mandated SDA assessors can be 1 of 4 professions:

• Builder surveyors
• Architect
• Occupational Therapist
• Access Consultant

It is generally considered that Tenant’s will look after their own maintenance of the home, but it is suggested that a Landlord look after lawn mowing and basic garden maintenance. The Landlord is responsible for all other normal maintenance as per any other investment property. The Tenants would be responsible for damage caused to the property.

The Tenants, but it is advised that Landlords connect utilities such as NBN, electricity, and phone connections in their own name and bill the ongoing costs back to the Tenant’s, as it will be hard to get connections made to the home with 2 or 3 separate Tenants.

Unlike a non-NDIS SDA style home, there are many factors at play when looking for and securing an NDIS SDA approved Tenant. Location of the Property, suitability of the style of property in that area, demand for that style of home with a suitable tenant, and current Government ‘red tape’ are just some of the factors that come into play.

The Provider is committed to finding suitable tenants as soon as possible. The process of looking for a Tenant starts before the build has even started. We work closely with Service Providers, most of whom have Participants on file, but there can be many factors that can delay this process. They may not yet have SDA funding approval in their Care Plans, or they may need to move out of current accommodation which may take time to transition across. There are still some challenges with the current NDIS structure and speed of delivery, but we are doing our best to push as hard as we can to get a tenant in every one of our homes.

There’s a bipartisan agreement that’s been signed off by all the parties in Canberra – the scheme has a 20 year timeframe of NDIS Certification. All the States and Territories also are unified in this program to ensure federal funding goes where its supposed to go.

Yes. The SDA funding under the NDIS is a legislated commitment of Australia’s Commonwealth, State and Territory governments, set out in the NDIS SDA Rules (2-18) under the NDIS Act 2013. This legislation provides the foundation for government’s long-term and firm commitment to SDA funding under the NDIS. Beyond the legislative commitment, SDA funding enables eligible participants to achieve better outcomes while representing value for money for the NDIS saving the government and taxpayers a lot of money otherwise spent on accommodating the applicants themselves.

We cannot be sure of who the participants will be that ultimately live within your property. Even though a High Physical Support design is built, the participants may end up being “HIGH PHYSICAL SUPPORT” + “IMPROVED LIVABILITY” + “FULLY ACCESSIBLE” for a 4 bedroom house, with the 24/7 onsite carer (OOA).

We offer these homes to investors who fully understand the downside of these investments but are prepared to accept those for the higher cash flow they will get. The downside is that they are building a more bespoke home to allow for wheelchairs so the bathrooms, corridors etc. are a little larger than normal, which may not be seen as the same value as the house next door. These are still a relatively regular 4 bedroom home but as you’d imagine, you can notice the additional features on a casual inspection of the property and this may slightly impact the future sale value. 

It used to be 6 months, but since 2021, we now see 9 to 12 months as the norm for construction. When taking into account council delays, supply chain issues, construction worker shortages, the Christmas period and weather delays, a 14 to 16 month project turn around time is to be expected, from day one commitment of an EOI, if working with titled land.

• 14 to 16 months for titled land
• 18 to 20 months for untitled land
• This always depends on the location

In many cases land is registered or close to registration, but investors will know if it isn’t the case.

Since the HOMEBUILDER SCHEME was launched, homebuyers have come out in droves to land estates snapping up all available lots. This will have an adverse affect on land availability over the coming year or so for all buyers, both investors and first home buyers, and thus we cannot predict that the packages we recommend for sale will be registered. 

In order to meet stringent requirements under NDIS guidelines, the homes include many features the house next door will not have and thus present as a higher cost to build.

These homes need to have a larger floor plan for ease of mobility, depending on the category of SDA (Robust or High Physical support etc) the homes have to include materials sound enough to withstand damage from wheelchairs or movement etc and thus require stronger materials for floors and walls etc. Some of the categories require full home automation for lights, curtains, windows and doors.

Each build is customised and not cookie cut like most new builds out there built by volume builders. Material is not purchased in bulk as done with volume builders and thus also costs more.

Based on requirements, materials used, customisation, automation, floor plan size etc the cost per square metre in no way can be compared to the new home being built next door.

Yes, each home is offered a 6-year structural builder’s warranty dated from practical completion. This warranty covers structural items and faults of original workmanship.

It would be unlikely that a complete furniture package would be required, as most Tenants would have their own furniture for their bedrooms, but we would suggest there might be some furniture required for the shared spaces. Each home would have different requirements, but we believe an allowance of $5,000 – $10,000 for items like a fridge, washing machine, table and chairs and lounge would be wise.

Yes, the building industry is going through a major challenge at the moment. Raw materials such as timber and steel are in short supply as well as workers for construction sites. This is causing delays in the completion of houses. Construction times which used to take 4-6 months, but are now taking 7-10 months.

The cost of building NDIS SDA homes has been steadily increasing during the second quarter of 2021. Timber has gone up by 18%. The cost of builds has been going up 10-15 % and the margin for builders has reduced significantly. The biggest problem is that contracts signed by investors has locked in prices, but the construction of the home will occur over the next year, and increasing costs will cause problems with builders not making money, with building costs going up even after contracts have been signed.

In South East Queensland, recent internal migration of people from VIC and NSW has resulted in significant population growth – with 10s of thousands moving to South East Queensland in the past 12 months, partly due to Covid. Additionally, more than 200,000 expats returned from overseas since the beginning of the Covid pandemic, buying up property, significantly impacting the available land supply.

In 2020, the government’s Home Builder Grant resulted in lots of First Home Buyers buying a lot of land, which combined with low interest rates resulting in a lack of land supply in the marketplace. In Victoria, land is in very short supply and there is a delay of 1-2 years for land titles. In Brisbane we’re now seeing delays of 6 months or more for land titles.

High demand for house and land packages is creating a fast paced market with new land releases selling out in under a week. Developers now require pre-approval letters, or a broker qualification letter with an EOI. In some cases, larger deposits of $5,000 are now required.

With the influx of owner occupiers in the market, developers are less interested in selling to investors and are favouring direct sales. It is therefore vital to act fast and to always complete everything on the EOI forms to ensure you don’t miss out.

SMSF investments in NDIS seems to be a hot topic currently. We are getting a lot of buyers with large amounts in super exploring the idea of NDIS. Yes we can assist. We can refer clients to SMSF funders who will do one-part contracts for House & Land packages and we help facilitate this as a property advisor only. We recommend SMSF investors have at least 33% of the House & Land contract price, plus additional costs such as stamp duty and holding costs etc. This would amount to over $250,000 as an SMSF balance minimum, ideally at least $350,000. Please consult your accountant for further advice, as we are not financial advisors.
Click here for more information on purchasing a NDIS property with your SMSF. 

That’s a very good question, and one that is very commonly pondered! The key is to look at who is supplying you the information. If it is someone who has a vested interest in selling you their product or service they are very rarely impartial or balanced. We however are completely independent and only offer advice that is specific to your unique situation. We are not and never will be a “one size fits all” organisation.

Let’s not beat around the bush, It can be pretty complicated and daunting – especially the first time. There are also many people who have lost money by rushing into the market unprepared. That is why we exist. Our job is to work with you in putting together your team of advisers who have your best interests at heart! Our strong suggestion would be to give us a call, or drop us an email and we can have a relaxed and informal chat about where to go from here. It is an exciting and rewarding journey. You do however have to “bite the bullet” at some stage and start!

If you are considering renovating an existing property, you need to consider the following points:

• The property needs to have been issued a certificate of occupancy on or after April 1st, 2016.
• The refurbishment must meet the minimum requirements for the selected Design Category
• The cost to refurbish or renovate the home must meet the minimum requirements in the NDIS’ Appendix F—Minimum Refurbishment Costs for New Builds
• The required minimum costs to refurbish are high, making this option generally not financially viable.

The NDIS recognize that most people who need SIL are able to live in an ordinary home that is already available and does not need modification. Most people who will have SIL approved as a reasonable and necessary support in their plan will not need SDA.