Refinance your childcare investment property

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 a leased centre the file is the tenancy. At a refinance a lender underwrites whoever is standing behind the rent now, which on this asset is often not the operator you bought from. We establish who that is, put your own landlord record alongside it, place the file, and stay with it past drawdown. Every figure is subject to serviceability, lender appetite and approval.

We refinance commercial facilities from $50K up to $30M, whether that is a single leased centre or several held under one structure. The new limit is set by the current valuation and by the rent the property produces, not by what you originally borrowed.

Because your bank can only tell you what your bank will do, and on childcare the published maximums differ sharply between lenders for a comparable centre. Add a tenancy that has changed hands since settlement and the differences widen, because a credit team meeting your operator for the first time forms a view from what is put in front of it. We do the legwork: we run the comparison across more than 40 lenders, present to one at a time so your credit file stays clean, and model the break costs, valuation and legals against what moving actually gains you.

The range runs from an indicative 65% up to 80%, and the lender you are taken to decides where you land. The figure follows a fresh valuation and the rent the centre currently produces rather than the price you originally paid.

It matters more than almost anything else on the file, and it is very often the case. A lender underwrites whoever is standing behind the rent on the day it assesses, not the party named in the contract you signed. So the first thing we establish is which entity is the tenant today, how it came to be the tenant, and what the current rating, licensed approved places and occupancy look like. Presented properly a new operator is simply a new covenant to assess, and plenty of them read very well.

Whether anything was preserved. When a lease is assigned, the landlord ordinarily consents, and the terms of that consent decide whether the outgoing tenant or a guarantor remains liable. That is settled once and then rarely looked at again, so pull it out before a refinance rather than during one. Your solicitor advises on what the documents mean. We make sure the position is established and presented before a credit team asks about it.

Your own record as landlord, and it is the most useful evidence on the file. Years of rent paid on time, outgoings recovered under the triple-net terms, and reviews applied as the lease provides describe how this tenancy actually behaves rather than how it should behave on paper. A buyer works from a data room and a covenant summary. You work from what has happened, and that is a materially stronger position to refinance from.

Yes, where the current valuation supports it. Cash out on a commercial refinance is assessed on the purpose of the funds, so the lender wants to know what it is for. The deposit on a second centre is the usual answer on this asset. Before committing to capital works at the centre, read the lease, because on a triple-net arrangement most outgoings and much of the maintenance sit with the tenant rather than with you.

Yes, because the operator's performance underpins the rent you are lent against. The rating, the number of licensed approved places and the occupancy all speak to how comfortably the tenant can keep paying, and a lender reads them for that reason rather than because you run the centre. What matters at a refinance is that those figures describe the operator trading there now, which is not necessarily the one whose record you relied on when you bought.

Often not. Appetite for childcare varies between lenders and moves over time, so a decline is frequently a position about the lender rather than about your centre. Where the answer was about the tenancy, assembling the covenant, the assignment documents and your own payment record into one submission often changes it. We look at why the answer was no, then place the file where that reason is not the deciding one.

Sometimes, and we test it rather than assume. One lender with one review date is simpler to run and can price better, but a portfolio concentrated with a single lender can reach an internal exposure limit, and that is discovered at the least convenient moment, when you are trying to fund the next centre. Untangling security crossed between centres years ago is often what frees the equity for the next purchase. We map the whole position before recommending anything.

Four to six weeks from application to settlement for a straightforward file. Where a tenancy has been assigned, a portfolio is being restructured or an SMSF is involved it takes longer. We give you a realistic timeline at the start so you can plan the expiry date around it.

The existing loan statements, the lease with every variation and assignment, the consent documents and any guarantee, personal tax returns and notices of assessment for the guarantors, a statement of assets and liabilities, and financials for the holding entity. For the tenancy we want a rent ledger showing the payment history, evidence that reviews have been applied, and the current operational picture for the operator: the rating, the approved places and the occupancy.

The costs are a valuation, legal and settlement fees, any lender establishment fee, discharge costs from your current lender, and break costs where you are leaving a fixed rate. Break costs are an economic cost, so they are calculated on the day and vary with how much fixed term is left. We put the real numbers against the benefit before you commit to anything.

Yes, it is possible, and we arrange these. A leased centre sits comfortably inside a fund, and this is also one of the more intricate refinances in commercial finance, where the detail decides whether it works. From 10 August 2026 a new arrangement can only be used for business real property. A centre used wholly as a childcare centre qualifies, and it does not matter whether you or a tenant occupies it, which suits an investment holding. A centre with a residence attached to the same title generally does not. It has to stay the same single property. It is limited to the balance outstanding plus accrued interest, so there is no top up, no redraw and no cash out inside the fund, which means the deposit on a second centre cannot come from the fund's existing asset. The holding trust is reassigned to the incoming lender rather than dissolved, which carries a legal cost worth weighing against the gain. The operator leases the centre 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. SMSF lending on standard commercial security generally runs between 65% and 80%, the major banks have exited SMSF lending, and lenders want a liquidity buffer left in the fund after settlement. We know this sounds complicated, and we can assist to make things clearer. 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 childcare centre 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.

Most of the time, no. Where a refinance requires significant preparation due to its complexity, a small mandate fee may apply, and 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 centre is located, we can arrange your finance.

Beyond refinancing the centre, we also assist with the rest of an investment position: funding the next centre, restructuring a portfolio held across several lenders, bridging between an equity release and a purchase where the settlement dates do not line up, and reviewing what stands behind each guarantee. We also arrange home loans planned alongside commercial borrowing, including cross collateralisation, guarantees, shortfalls and trust income.

Yes, and it describes most investors we speak to, because a leased centre is genuinely low-touch: the rent arrives, the tenant carries the outgoings, and the loan simply runs. 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 business owners and commercial property investors with facilities from $50,000 upwards. We will start by telling you what the centre is likely to value at now, who a lender will see behind the rent, what sits on your current facility, what moving costs, and whether it is worth making. If it is not, we will say so and you can stay where you are.