Tenanted commercial investment property finance

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. With a tenant already in place the rent is working from day one, so the deal is built around that income and taken to lenders who weigh the strength of a solid lease and a reliable occupier properly. As the portfolio grows, the team stays alongside you well past settlement. Every figure is subject to serviceability, lender appetite and approval.

It turns less on the LVR than on the interest cover ratio, the margin between rent and interest. A lease-doc loan reaches up to 75% for loans under $3 million, and adding your own income on a full-doc loan can reach 80%. Which one binds on your asset is exactly what we work out with you.

Because on a leased investment the rent sizes the loan, so the interest cover ratio sets your ceiling rather than the LVR. Maximum LVR equals the yield divided by the cover ratio times the rate: a 4.7% yield at a 7% rate gives around 45% on a 1.5 times test and 54% on 1.25, while a 7.8% yield reaches the full LVR. Talk to us to size it.

Not in the way people expect, and the reason is worth knowing. A strong tenant such as a government department is a genuine advantage, but it works through the loan term and the approval, not through the gearing. A blue-chip lease usually comes with a lower yield, and because the cover test sizes the loan off the yield, a keenly priced asset actually gears more conservatively, while it earns you a longer term and an easier approval. A higher-yielding asset with a solid tenant gears further. We work out which effect matters most for the asset you are looking at and take you to the lender that rewards it.

Yes. A commercial property let to an arm's length tenant sits in the same bucket as a shop or a warehouse someone occupies themselves, and it is valued on comparable sales and the market rent. That is different from a pub, a motel or a service station, where the property and the trade are valued as one thing and the lending gears lower. Being in the standard bucket is good news, because it is valued on evidence you can see, and the thing that then shapes your loan is the cover test rather than the asset class.

Yes, and these are some of the most sought-after assets private investors buy. Government departments, Centrelink offices and agency buildings are leased to strong tenants on clear terms, and they come to the private market regularly. Burgess Rawson runs dedicated auctions of government-leased property to private investors, where a Melbourne Centrelink asset recently sold for $14.5 million on a 7.8% net yield to a local buyer. A government tenant is a genuine advantage: it makes the file straightforward to approve and it supports a longer loan term. We take you through the lease, the cover test and the structure so you can bid with your finance already mapped.

A lease-doc loan is assessed on the rent the property earns rather than on your personal income, which suits an investor whose own position is complex or who simply wants the asset to stand on its own. The lender verifies the lease and the rent, applies its interest cover ratio, and that is the servicing test. If you would rather add your own income to strengthen the file, a full-doc investment loan does that and can reach a higher LVR on standard commercial security. We work out which route gives you the better result and the lender that runs it well.

The length of the lease drives the loan term more than anything else. Pepper aligns the loan term to the weighted average unexpired lease term, so a long WALE earns a longer loan. CommBank's lease-doc term runs to five years or lease expiry, whichever is shorter. A long, firm lease to a solid tenant does not lift your gearing, but it does support a longer term and a cleaner approval, and on a leased investment that certainty is worth a great deal. We match the lease profile to the lender whose term suits it.

The lease itself, because it is the asset you are really buying. The lease tells you the passing rent, the unexpired term, the review structure, the outgoings recovery and the make-good obligations, and each of those feeds the valuation and the cover test. It is also worth confirming any option to renew, any incentive still being amortised, and the tenant's payment history. We read the lease and the outgoings schedule before you exchange, not after, so it holds no surprises at the valuation.

For a lease-doc loan, most lenders want the lease, the rent evidence, the outgoings schedule and the contract of sale, and little about your own income. For a full-doc application, add two to three years of financial statements and tax returns and personal tax returns for all guarantors. Plenty of investors do not fit a standard full-doc assessment neatly, and alt-doc and low-doc routes exist, supported by an accountant's declaration, BAS lodgements and business bank statements, at a slightly higher rate. We work through your income situation upfront to identify the best approach.

Yes, it is possible, and we arrange these. A leased commercial property sits comfortably inside an SMSF purchase, more comfortably than most asset classes. 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 property 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 property let wholly for commercial use qualifies, and it does not matter whether you or a tenant occupies it. A property with a residence attached to the same title generally does not. The tenant leases the property from the fund, in writing, at market rent supported by an independent appraisal, and the rent has to actually be paid. Cross-collateralisation is not available inside super, so the fund needs its own deposit and the 100% LVR structures described elsewhere on this page do not work here. Lenders cap SMSF lending below a standard purchase, generally between 65% and 80%, 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 leased commercial property 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.

Very often, yes, and a decline is usually better news than it feels like at the time. On a leased investment it is frequently a question of the cover test rather than anything wrong with the asset: the file went to a lender whose interest cover ratio did not suit the yield, when another lender's test sizes the very same rent into a larger loan. That is a solvable problem, and solving it is one of the most common reasons investors come to us. We will look at your situation and give you a straight, encouraging answer on where it is fundable.

Because on a leased investment the lenders differ on the one thing that decides your loan, the interest cover ratio, and going direct means you only ever see one test. One lender wants 1.5 times cover, another 1.2, and on the same rent that is the difference between a modest loan and a strong one. Add the LVR tiers by loan size and the way lease length drives the term, and knowing which lender fits your yield, your tenant and your structure is the whole job, and it is where the size of your loan is decided.

Most of the time, no. We are paid a commission by the lender once your loan settles. Where a purchase requires significant preparation, a small mandate fee may apply, and we will always be upfront about this before 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 investment is located, we can arrange your finance.

Although our main speciality is property loans for business owners, we also assist with working capital for your business and equipment and vehicle finance. On working capital, we arrange business overdrafts, lines of credit and cash-flow funding to cover a lease incentive, a contribution to a new tenant's fit-out, or the gap between settlement and the next acquisition. On asset finance, we fund plant, vehicles and equipment for the businesses you run alongside your property investments.

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 commercial property investors and business owner-occupiers seeking finance from $100,000 upwards, and buying an asset with a tenant already in place is a common first commercial investment, so it is well within our wheelhouse. We will walk you through how the cover test sets your borrowing, what the asset will actually value at, and the deposit you will genuinely need, before you commit to anything.