SMSF finance for medical and health premises

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 health premises the borrowing rules are the same every time and the property is what changes: a surgery, a pharmacy freehold, an imaging suite and a day hospital are four different assets, and the lender list is different for each.

We arrange commercial property finance from $50K up to $30M. Inside a fund a specialist healthcare lender will go to 90% of the purchase price with no LMI where a medical, dental or veterinary fund is buying the rooms its own practice occupies. Clinical premises otherwise sit between 65% and 75% of the lender's valuation. 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, so a practice owner who holds the rooms in their own name can sell them to their own fund. The price has to be market value supported by an independent valuation, and transfer duty generally applies. From 10 August 2026 a new arrangement can only be used for business real property. 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 your premises as SMSF security and on what terms, and bring in the SMSF specialists and licensed advisers who set the fund side up.

The test is whether the land and buildings are used wholly and exclusively in one or more businesses, and it is applied at the time the fund acquires them. Consulting rooms trading as a practice across the whole of the premises generally meet it. A residence on the same title generally does not. Our business real property page sets out what the test requires and the situations that decide it, and your accountant and the fund auditor confirm the position on your own premises.

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.

Not from the borrowing. Borrowed money can be applied to acquiring the premises, the costs of acquiring them and repairs and maintenance, but never to an improvement. The fund may still improve the premises using its own other money, so an extension or a refit is not ruled out, only ruled out as a use of the loan. Chairs, cabinetry, scanners and theatre plant are financed separately and outside the fund in any case.

Ownership of the business and ownership of the premises are separate. Ownership of a pharmacy business is restricted to registered pharmacists in most states, with a limit on how many one pharmacist may hold, and the pharmacy authority in your state and your solicitor are the people who confirm that. What we arrange is the finance on the premises. A fund holding the freehold and leasing it to the pharmacy company is a property question, not a business ownership one.

Generally not. Shielded rooms, floor loading and reinforced power are building costs and a valuer prices them as part of the premises. The MRI and the CT are plant, and an arrangement funds one asset, so the machines are financed separately and outside the fund. Ask what the valuer has included before you rely on the figure.

Usually outside business real property. The premises have to be used wholly and exclusively in a business, so a residence on the same title is part of what the test looks at. The two-hectare dwelling carve-out does not help, because it is written for primary production businesses. Where the residence and the clinic already sit on separate titles the position is different, and your solicitor confirms what the title actually contains.

It can be, and the order of events is what settles it. The test is applied at the time the fund acquires the premises, so an empty specialised shell may not be in use in a business on the day it settles. Where a day-hospital licence is being transferred or applied for, that sequence is set out with your adviser before contracts rather than afterwards.

No. The major banks exited SMSF lending between 2015 and 2019, so this is a specialist and non-bank market. Any comparison that shows a major bank column for SMSF is out of date. The list of specialist healthcare and non-bank lenders writing your practice type is shorter for an imaging suite than for a consulting room, and we can tell you who is on it.

Four to six weeks from application to settlement is realistic for a straightforward practice purchase, and longer inside a fund, where the trust deed, the holding trust and the fund auditor are all part of the approval. Licensed premises take longer again. We give you a timeline for your specific property before you commit to a settlement date.

Lenders in this market generally prefer one where the fund is borrowing, and some require it. Whether your fund has or should have a corporate trustee is a question for your accountant and adviser rather than for us. We can tell you which lenders insist on it.

Identification, the contract or property details, the fund's trust deed and recent financial statements, member balances, the practice financials, and the draft lease. A practice adds an accountant's letter. Licensed premises add the licence and accreditation. Imaging adds the schedule of what is fixed to the building and what is not.

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.

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 premises are located, we can arrange your finance.

Although our main speciality is property finance for practice owners, we also assist with equipment and fit-out finance and with working capital. On equipment, that covers chairs, scanners, theatre plant and practice fit-out. On working capital, we arrange overdrafts, lines of credit and cash-flow funding. Our SMSF dental practice page follows a single practice type from valuation through to settlement.

Yes. We explain what the fund can and cannot do, tell you which lenders write your practice type 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.