Day surgery property loans

Ardent Capital Group brings the same method to every client: execution and strategy, clear advice for smart lending, and long-term growth. That means the right lender, structure and timing, straight advice so you borrow with confidence, and today's deal built toward where you want to be tomorrow. We are specialists in helping business owners secure finance to purchase their own property, and we understand the complex structures that often sit around it, including multiple trusts, holding companies and self-managed super funds. A day surgery lives or dies on its theatre lists and patient throughput, so we shape the mortgage against that trade and place it with lenders who understand purpose-built clinical property and the specialised fit-out it carries. We stay alongside you as the practice grows and the property behind it builds. Every figure is subject to serviceability, lender appetite and approval.

Going direct to one bank means one credit appetite and one answer, and a licensed day hospital is a specialised asset that many lenders assess conservatively or decline outright. The building carries operating theatres, a CSSD, clean-air HVAC and recovery bays, and its value depends on state day-hospital licensing and accreditation that not every credit team understands. A specialist broker knows which lenders will fund a surgical centre, how they treat a specialist syndicate as the borrower, and how to present the valuation and lease so it holds up. You reach the lenders that suit your situation rather than collecting declines.

For a licensed day hospital, owner-occupier LVRs generally sit around 60% to 70%, lower than a standard medical suite because valuers assess it on a specialised-use basis. Leasing the premises to the operator usually sits a further 5% to 15% below that. Theatre equipment is funded separately. Talk to us to size your file.

A day hospital cannot operate without a state day-procedure or private-hospital licence and, in most cases, accreditation against the National Safety and Quality Health Service standards. Lenders treat that licensing as central to the asset, because the building's income and its resale both depend on it. We evidence the current licence, the accreditation status and the theatre and infection-control compliance early, so the credit team can see the premises is a going concern rather than an empty specialised shell. Where a licence is being transferred or applied for, we structure the finance around that timeline.

Many day hospitals are owned by a syndicate of the surgeons and anaesthetists who operate from them, often through a unit trust or a tenants-in-common arrangement that holds the property separately from the operating company. Lenders underwrite each member as a guarantor and test whether the loan still services if one member exits the syndicate. We present the ownership deed, the members' financial positions and the lease from the property entity to the operating entity at arm's-length market rent, so the structure reads clearly to credit. Getting the entity and the guarantees right at the start is what keeps a multi-owner purchase moving.

Valuers assess a day hospital on a specialised-use basis, separating the base building from the theatre fit-out, CSSD, clean-air HVAC and backup power that sit inside it. Those non-transferable improvements are discounted below cost because a different buyer could not use them without a licence of their own, so the assessed value often lands under what the setup cost to build. That is the main reason LVRs are conservative on this asset. We brief the valuer on the licensing, the lease and the accreditation so the going-concern value is captured rather than a bare-shell figure.

A licensed day-hospital purchase usually takes longer than a standard commercial property loan. Expect around four to eight weeks with a major bank and three to five weeks with a non-bank lender, because the valuation is specialised and the credit team reviews the licence, accreditation and syndicate structure before approving. You will normally receive indicative terms within a few days of our first conversation. We give you a realistic timeline upfront so your settlement and licence transfer stay aligned.

For a full-doc application, lenders want two to three years of financials for the operating entity, personal tax returns for each syndicate member or guarantor, the contract of sale, the current day-hospital licence and accreditation, and the lease between the property and operating entities. Where the borrower is a unit trust or company, the deed or constitution is needed too. Many surgeon-owners bill through service entities and do not fit a standard full-doc assessment, so non-bank alt-doc and low-doc options let income be evidenced through an accountant's declaration, BAS or bank statements. These carry slightly higher rates but open the door where paperwork understates income. We work through your income situation upfront to identify the best approach.

Owner-occupier finance applies when the syndicate or operator that runs the theatres also owns the building, and lenders assess the surgical centre's trading income alongside the property at owner-occupier LVRs around 60% to 70%. Investment finance applies when a property entity holds the premises and leases it to a separate operating company, which is common in syndicate structures. There the lender focuses on the lease term, the market rent and the strength of the operating entity as tenant, and investment LVRs typically sit a further 5% to 15% lower. The lease must be genuine and at arm's-length market rent either way.

Yes, it is possible, and we arrange these. It is also one of the more intricate purchases in commercial finance, and the detail is what decides whether it works. The fund borrows under a limited recourse borrowing arrangement, so the day hospital sits in a separate holding trust and the lender can only come after that one property. From 10 August 2026 a new arrangement can only be used for business real property: a licensed, trading day hospital generally qualifies. A shell bought to be fitted out may not be in business use at acquisition, which is a question to settle before you exchange, not after. Your operating entity leases the day hospital back from the fund, in writing, at market rent supported by an independent appraisal, and the rent has to actually be paid. SMSF lending caps well below a standard purchase, so the fund provides its own deposit and the full-price funding available outside super does not apply here. Cross-collateralisation is not available inside super either. Lenders cap SMSF lending below a standard purchase, generally between 65% and 75%, and want cash left in the fund after settlement. We know this sounds complicated. It is, and that is exactly why we do it every day. Reach out to our team and we will guide you through the entire process. We structure the finance, tell you which lenders will take a day hospital as SMSF security and on what terms, and bring in the SMSF specialists and licensed advisers who set the fund side up. You will not be working it out on your own. Get that right and it is a solid, compliant structure.

In most cases the building and the specialised kit are funded on separate structures. The premises sits on the commercial property loan, while theatre equipment, sterilising and CSSD plant, clean-air HVAC and backup power are financed through chattel mortgage or equipment finance, which keeps depreciating assets off the property security. Some lenders will capitalise part of a base fit-out into the property loan; larger surgical equipment almost always goes on its own facility. We map which route costs less over the life of each item and coordinate the drawdowns so the whole setup lands on one plan.

Often, yes. A decline usually reflects the lender's conservative view of a specialised licensed asset rather than a fundamental problem with the purchase. Banks apply rigid policy to day hospitals, and a specialised-use valuation or a syndicate structure can fall outside it. Non-bank lenders and specialist financiers assess these premises case by case, and sometimes a presentation or structuring issue is all that stood between you and an approval. We give you an objective assessment of what is fundable before proceeding.

Most of the time, no. We are paid a commission by the lender once your loan settles, so there is no cost to you. Where the ownership is a complex syndicate, the licensing needs careful presentation, or the purchase requires significant preparation before it can go to a lender, a small mandate fee may apply depending on the complexity. We will always be upfront about this before any work begins.

Although we are based in Sydney, we service clients across all major Australian cities, including Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Adelaide, Canberra and Hobart, along with their surrounding regional areas. Wherever your day surgery or day-hospital premises is located, we can arrange your finance.

Although our main speciality is property loans for business owners, we also assist with theatre equipment finance and working capital for day surgeries. On asset finance, that covers theatre equipment, sterilisation and CSSD plant, clean-air HVAC and backup power systems. On working capital, we arrange business overdrafts, lines of credit and cash-flow funding to cover consumables, wages and the timing of private-health claims.

Yes. That is our core ethos, helping you understand the right strategy, structure and clear advice from the very first conversation. Our main borrower profiles are established specialists and day-hospital operators seeking finance from $100,000 upwards for their company, so a first commercial loan is well within our wheelhouse. Smaller sole-trader and consumer-style ABN lending sits outside our field.