Refinance your veterinary clinic property loan

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 veterinary refinance the work is in the composition. A clinic that has grown a theatre, a ward and a boarding run is three bases inside one building, and how they are presented moves the valuation. We set that out properly 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 one clinic you want repriced or a hospital and a branch held under one structure. The new limit is set by the current valuation and by servicing, not by what you originally borrowed.

Because your bank can only tell you what your bank will do, and on veterinary premises lenders differ sharply on two things at once: whether they recognise veterinarians as a profession, and how comfortable they are with the zoning. We do the legwork, run the comparison across more than 40 lenders, and present to one at a time so your credit file does not collect an enquiry for every conversation. We also model the break costs, valuation and legals against what moving actually gains you.

75% to 80% of the current value where the lender recognises veterinarians as a profession, the way it treats doctors and dentists. A lender treating the premises as ordinary commercial security usually wants 30% or more. The figure follows a fresh valuation, not the price you paid.

It reads in parts. A valuer separates general consulting space from purpose-built theatre, imaging and in-house pathology rooms, and assesses a boarding kennel or cattery as its own income stream. So the building is not revalued as one thing that got bigger. We set the components out before the valuer attends so each is assessed on the right basis rather than averaged.

Because it is single-use and hard to transfer. A purpose-built theatre, a lead-lined imaging room or an in-house pathology fitout suits your practice and very few other occupiers, so a valuer discounts it against build cost. It is why a refinance is planned around the valuation rather than around what the fitout cost to complete.

It helps once it is presented properly. Boarding is a separate income stream with its own revenue pattern, and lenders read it that way rather than as more clinic. Where it is set out clearly with its own history it supports servicing on its own terms. Where it is folded into a single practice figure it tends to be discounted, which is the outcome we work to avoid.

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. A new theatre, an imaging room, a hospitalisation ward, a boarding extension or a deposit on a second site are all ordinary purposes. We evidence them with quotes and a timeline.

It can, significantly. Veterinary premises often sit on commercial, light-industrial, rural or agricultural zoning rather than a standard retail or office title, and each changes how a lender views the security and its resale. Rural and large-parcel sites can shorten the list of lenders willing to consider them. We confirm the zoning and the permitted use before we lodge, so the valuation does not come back short of what you expected.

Often not. A decline on a top up is one lender applying one policy on one day, and on veterinary premises it frequently traces to recognition or to zoning rather than to the practice. Those are both matters of which lender the file sits with. We look at why the answer was no, then place it where that reason is not the deciding one.

Often yes, and it is one of the more useful things a refinance does. The caution is that not everything belongs on the premises. Imaging and analysers sit better on asset finance against the equipment, because the term should match its working life, and a facility carrying drugs, consumables and wages should keep revolving. We map what belongs where and consolidate what genuinely benefits from long-term property security.

Four to six weeks from application to settlement for a straightforward file. A mixed clinical and boarding property takes longer because the valuation runs on more than one basis, a rural site can take longer again, and SMSF refinances longer still. We give you a realistic timeline at the start so you can plan the expiry date around it.

The existing loan statements for every facility, two to three years of financial statements and tax returns for the practice entity, revenue split between consulting, surgery, boarding and after hours, personal tax returns and notices of assessment for the guarantors, a statement of assets and liabilities, and the equipment schedules. For the property we also want the zoning and permitted use.

The costs are a valuation, legal and settlement fees, any lender establishment fee, discharge costs from each 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. It is also one of the more intricate refinances in commercial finance, and the detail is what decides whether it works. From 10 August 2026 a new arrangement can only be used for business real property, and clinic premises used wholly in a business qualify. A clinic with a residence attached generally does not, and the two-hectare dwelling exception does not rescue it, because that exception applies to primary production and a veterinary practice is not primary production. It has to stay the same single property, and 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. The holding trust is reassigned to the incoming lender rather than dissolved, which carries a legal cost worth weighing against the gain. Your practice entity leases the premises back 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. Fund the deposit from the fund itself, since cross-collateralisation is not available in super, 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 veterinary clinic 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 clinic is located, we can arrange your finance.

Beyond refinancing the premises, we also assist with asset finance and working capital. On asset finance, that covers digital radiography and ultrasound, anaesthetic machines and monitoring, surgical tables and lighting, in-house analysers, dental units, kennels and cattery fitout and practice vehicles. On working capital, we arrange business overdrafts, lines of credit and cash-flow funding to carry drugs, consumables and after-hours staffing, and we can fold these into the refinance where it makes sense.

Yes, and it describes most practice owners we speak to. The facility is set up at settlement and then simply runs, while the clinic quietly grows into a hospital around it. 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 setting out what the premises now contain and how each part will be assessed, 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.