Commercial Lending

Commercial loans are assessed against the business and the security property rather than against a single household. Lenders look at the trading history, the lease (if tenanted), the rental yield, the LVR against a commercial valuation, the strength of the borrower entity and the servicing position after tax. Pricing, fees, loan terms and review cycles vary materially between lenders and from one transaction to the next.

Common requests include: two to three years of business tax returns and financial statements, current management accounts or BAS, a current asset and liability statement for the borrower entity and guarantors, the commercial lease (if leased), council and zoning documentation, a registered valuation, and director identification. Each lender has its own policy variation — we confirm the exact list against the shortlisted lender before any formal application.

Many commercial loans run on shorter loan terms than residential loans — often three to five years — with a review or refinance event at the end. Some lenders offer longer fully-amortising commercial facilities; some structure as principal-and-interest with a balloon at expiry. The right structure depends on the asset, the income, your tax position and your medium-term plans for the property.

In some circumstances, yes — through a Limited Recourse Borrowing Arrangement (LRBA). SMSF commercial lending is a specialist area with strict structuring requirements and lender policy variation. We scope SMSF commercial enquiries inside the SMSF service rather than as a generic commercial loan; the legal structure, fund deed and trustee composition all need to be checked first. See the SMSF service page for context.

A commercial loan is assessed on business cash flow, tax position and entity structure as much as on the security. As the same practitioner is both Credit Representative and Chartered Accountant, the application is built off the actual financials rather than reverse-engineered from a basic lender form. This reduces back-and-forth at the credit-assessment stage and keeps the loan structure consistent with your wider tax position.

No. Commercial lending suits established businesses or investors with a sound cash-flow position, an appropriate security profile and a clear purpose for the funds. Where the position is marginal, or the structure is wrong, we say so in writing before any application is submitted. Eligibility, lender criteria, fees and charges apply, and lender appetite varies materially between institutions and over time.

Commercial broker remuneration varies more than residential. In many commercial transactions the lender pays the broker on settlement; on some specialist or complex transactions a fee-for-service arrangement applies. Whichever model applies is confirmed in writing in the Credit Guide and Credit Proposal Disclosure before any application is submitted.

It can. Commercial lenders commonly ask whether tax lodgements are up to date and whether the business has any ATO debt or payment arrangement; how that weighs on the decision varies with each lender's assessment. Disclosing the position accurately up front is better than having it surface at credit review. Because the same practitioner handles the tax side, the lodgement position can be confirmed — and brought current where needed — before the application is submitted.