SMSF dental practice 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. On an SMSF practice purchase that method earns its keep on sequence: whether the premises qualify, what the fund can actually borrow, and whether the trust and the lease exist in the right order before contracts are signed.

We arrange commercial property finance from $50K up to $30M. Inside a fund the practical range is narrower: a non-bank commercial lender publishes up to 80% on loans from $100,000 to $10 million, and a specialist healthcare lender will go to 90% of the purchase price with no LMI where the fund is buying the rooms the practice occupies. What the fund can borrow is set by the valuation, the rent, and what the fund holds after settlement.

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. A self-managed super fund with no more than six members may acquire business real property from a related party at market value, which is why this can be done with a surgery and cannot be done with a house. From 10 August 2026 a new arrangement can only be used for business real property, and premises used wholly in a dental practice generally qualify. The price has to be market value, supported by an independent valuation, and transfer duty generally applies to the sale. Cross-collateralisation is not available inside super, so the fund provides its own deposit and the 100% LVR structures available outside super do not apply here. Talk to our team. We arrange the finance, tell you which lenders will take a dental surgery as SMSF security and on what terms, and bring in the SMSF specialists and licensed advisers who set the fund side up.

It qualifies where the land and buildings are used wholly and exclusively in one or more businesses. A surgery operating as a dental practice across the whole of the premises generally meets that test, and it does not matter whether the practice is yours or an unrelated one. The test is applied at the time the fund acquires the property, not later. Your accountant and the fund auditor confirm the position on your specific premises.

That is the case that most often fails. Premises have to be used wholly and exclusively in a business, so a surgery on the ground floor with a flat above it on the same title generally does not qualify, and a new arrangement cannot be used to buy it. There is a narrow exception for a dwelling on land of no more than two hectares where the main use is not domestic, but it is built for primary production rather than for shop-top premises. Establish this before you make an offer rather than after.

It means the price is not a matter of agreement between you and your fund. The acquisition has to be at market value, and in practice that means an independent valuation the fund auditor can review. Setting the figure to suit the deposit, the borrowing or a tax position is what the requirement exists to prevent. Your adviser and the auditor confirm what is acceptable evidence.

Yes, and it has to be real. The lease is in writing, on commercial terms, at market rent supported by an independent appraisal, and the rent has to actually be paid. Rent set below market, or agreed and then not paid, can be treated as non-arm's length income. Lenders ask to see the lease before settlement, so it is prepared alongside the finance rather than after it.

No. Business real property leased to a related party is an exception to the in-house asset rules, which is the reason a fund can lease premises to your own practice at all. Without that exception the arrangement would not work. The 5% limit still applies to the fund's other in-house assets, and the exception does not extend to them.

Not from the borrowing, and this is the distinction most people miss. Borrowed money can be applied to acquiring the property, to the costs of acquiring it and to repairs and maintenance, but never to an improvement. Applying it to an improvement breaks the borrowing exception the arrangement depends on. The fund may still improve the premises using its own other money, so an extension or a refit is not ruled out. It is ruled out as a use of the loan. Chairs and fit-out are usually financed separately, outside the fund.

Four things, and the list is exhaustive: acquiring the single property, the costs of acquiring it, the costs of the borrowing itself, and repairs and maintenance to that property. The arrangement funds one asset, so the practice, its goodwill and its equipment are financed separately and outside the fund.

No. Inside a fund there is no top up, no redraw, no cash out and no equity release, at any valuation. A refinance is permitted, but it is confined to the same single property and to the balance outstanding plus accrued interest. The equity release available on a commercial property held outside super does not apply here, and a page describing it is describing a different structure.

Generally yes, and the two are not in conflict. Limited recourse describes what the lender can come after if the loan is not repaid: the one property in the holding trust, and not the fund's other assets. It says nothing about guarantees, and lenders in this market usually ask members for them. Know it before you sign rather than at settlement.

Before contracts are signed. The order of execution is state based: in Queensland and South Australia the deed is executed before the contract, and in New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and the ACT after it. The contract is signed in the name of the holding trust trustee rather than the fund trustee. Getting the order or the name wrong can make one purchase dutiable twice, so your solicitor sets the sequence before anything is exchanged.

The fund can keep the premises and lease them to whoever operates the practice next. Business real property turns on how the premises are used rather than on who occupies them, so a surgery leased to an unrelated dental practice remains business real property. What changes is that the lease is no longer with a related party. The fund can also sell the premises. Which of those suits the fund is a question for your adviser rather than for us.

It happens, and each fund is assessed on its own. A lender looks at each fund's balance, its members, its borrowing capacity and its share of the property separately, and each borrowing runs under its own arrangement. That makes the presentation more involved rather than the answer different. How the ownership is set up between you is a question for your accountant and solicitor.

Most of the time, no. Where a purchase needs significant preparation or is unusually complex, and an SMSF purchase sometimes is, a small mandate fee may apply, and we will always tell you plainly before any work begins. Our SMSF medical and health premises page covers how a fund buys practice premises and what changes from one practice type to the next.

Yes. We explain what the fund can and cannot do, tell you which lenders write this and on what terms, and work to the timeline your accountant and solicitor set. We know this sounds complicated, and we can assist to make things clearer.