ACL 390611 | MFAA Member | Established 2005
SMSF Loans Built AroundBusiness Real Property.
A super fund is barred from almost every dealing with its own members. Business real property is one of the narrow exceptions, and it is the reason a business owner can buy their own premises inside super and lease them back to their own company. Everything else on this page follows from that one carve-out.
15 minutes with a commercial specialist. Bring the property and the fund, or just the idea. We would far rather look at it before a contract than after one. We charge you nothing at any stage. Lenders pay us a commission on settlement and we disclose it in writing before any work begins.
Intellect Finance – SMSF Property Lending
Independent since 2005 | ACL 390611What Is an SMSF Loan?
An SMSF loan is a limited recourse borrowing arrangement, or LRBA, that lets a self managed super fund borrow to buy a single asset. The ATO states the asset is held in a separate trust known as a holding trust, that the fund acquires a beneficial interest in it and the right to legal ownership once the loan is repaid, and that the other assets of the fund are protected if the loan defaults.
That structure is the same whether the fund is buying a warehouse or a unit. What changes everything is the property. Business real property gets exceptions that no other asset class gets, and those exceptions are what make owning your own premises in super worth doing at all.
So the useful question is not whether your fund can borrow. It usually can. The question is whether the property qualifies, whether the fund can carry the loan once the money is spent, and whether what you want to do with the building afterwards is something an LRBA actually allows.
Common Situations
Why People Come to Us for SMSF Loans
Six situations. The first two are most of the volume, and both turn on the same definition.
Buying the premises your business rents
The rent your company already pays goes to your own fund instead of a landlord. The single most common reason a fund borrows, and the one the business real property rules exist for.
Moving premises you own personally into the fund
A fund generally cannot buy an asset from a member. Business real property is one of the exceptions, at market value. The property has to be tested against the definition first, not after.
A first commercial purchase in a new fund
Often a rollover from two members plus an LRBA. Lenders look closely at the fund’s liquidity after settlement, not just the deposit that gets it there.
Refinancing an existing LRBA
Usually where the original lender has left the SMSF market or the loan has rolled onto a rate that has drifted. The structure stays, the lender changes.
Buying together with another fund or a partner
A unit trust or tenancy in common arrangement rather than a straight LRBA. Structure comes first here and it is your accountant’s call, not ours.
Residential property inside the fund
Possible, but without the business real property exceptions. Different lenders, tighter rules, and a conversation with your adviser before anything else. See investment loans for the position outside super.
Social Proof
120+ Five-Star Google Reviews
Business owners, fund trustees and investors alongside home buyers. Pulled live from Google.
Joseph Sukkar
Principal Broker · ACL 390611
Who You’re Dealing With
Built on 25 Years in Australian Finance
Joseph Sukkar started in finance in 2000 and founded Intellect Finance in Penrith in 2005. Since then the team has arranged more than 6,500 loans for clients across Australia, from first homes to complex commercial and asset finance.
SMSF files sit with Charbel, our Commercial & Complex Lending Specialist. Almost nothing here fails on credit. These deals fall over on structure, on whether the property meets the business real property definition and on documents executed in the wrong order, which is why the property gets tested before anything else is looked at. That testing happens alongside your accountant, your adviser and your solicitor rather than around them.
Part of Our 100+ Lender Panel
The names most people recognise are residential lenders. Much of what we arrange runs through funders that do not advertise to the public. Accreditation with a lender is not an endorsement by it, and which lender suits you is decided by your file rather than by who is on this list.
Got a Property and a Fund?
That is enough for us to tell you whether it works.What Actually Decides It
Business Real Property Is the Whole Reason This Works
Superannuation law keeps a fund at arm’s length from its own members. Business real property is one of the few doors left open, and every advantage people associate with buying premises in super comes through it. Six rules decide whether your property fits and what you can do with it afterwards.
The property has to meet the definition
The ATO describes business real property as land and buildings used wholly and exclusively in a business. Where a dwelling on the land is used privately, the ATO still allows it provided that dwelling sits on an area of no more than 2 hectares and the main use of the whole property is not domestic or private. A shop with a flat above it, a partly leased site or a yard with a caretaker’s residence all need testing rather than assuming.
It is one of the few things your fund can buy from you
A fund generally cannot acquire an asset from a related party. The ATO lists business real property among the limited exceptions, provided the price reflects market value. That single exception is what lets a business owner move premises they already hold into their own fund instead of having to find an unrelated seller.
The 5 percent in-house asset cap does not bite
In-house assets, which include most arrangements between a fund and a related party, are restricted to no more than 5 percent of the market value of the fund’s total assets. The ATO exempts business real property leased between a fund and a related party from that restriction. Without the exemption, leasing your own building back to your own company would be impossible at any meaningful size.
The lease has to be arm’s length in both directions
The ATO requires any lease to be made on an arm’s length basis and reflect market value. That cuts both ways, and people usually only think about one of them. Charging your business under market rent to ease its cashflow is a problem. So is charging over market rent to push more into the fund. Rent reviews, arrears and a written lease matter here in a way they never would between related parties otherwise.
The loan buys one asset held in a separate trust
An LRBA funds a single acquirable asset held in a holding trust, with the fund taking the beneficial interest and the right to legal ownership once the loan is repaid. Separate titles can still be one asset where, in the ATO’s words, what is being acquired is distinctly identifiable as a single asset. Two unrelated titles usually are not, which means two loans and two trusts.
You cannot improve it with borrowed money
This is the rule that catches people, and it catches them late. The ATO ruling on LRBAs states that no amount borrowed under an LRBA may be applied to improve the single acquirable asset. Repairs and maintenance are fine. An improvement, which the ruling describes as significantly altering the state or function of the asset for the better, has to come from money the fund already holds.
Checked August 2026. The business real property definition, the related party acquisition exception, the in-house asset restriction and the arm’s length lease requirement are set out in the ATO’s guidance on SMSF investment restrictions. The improvement rule is stated in the ATO ruling SMSFR 2012/1. Whether an SMSF is appropriate for you, whether a specific property meets the definition and what you can contribute to the fund are questions for your accountant or licensed adviser and the Australian Taxation Office, not for us. The limits on the best interests obligations are set out in ASIC Regulatory Guide 273. Everything else on this page is described in the important information at the foot of the page.
The Honest Comparison
In the Fund or in the Company?
Most people arrive having already decided super is the answer. Often it is. But the two structures behave differently in ways that only show up years after settlement, and the loan is the smallest part of that decision.
Bought through an LRBA
- Rent your business already pays goes into your own fund rather than a landlord’s
- Business real property is exempt from the in-house asset restriction, so the leaseback is allowed
- Recourse is limited to the property, so the rest of the fund is protected on default
- Borrowed money cannot fund improvements, so a fit-out has to come from elsewhere
- What you can put into the fund is capped, and superannuation rules govern what comes out
Held in a company or trust
- You can borrow to extend, refit or improve the building, which an LRBA does not permit
- A far wider lender panel, and ordinary commercial credit policy rather than SMSF policy
- No contribution caps or preservation rules sitting between you and the asset
- Rent leaves the business and is taxed in the entity or in your hands rather than inside super
- The building sits on the trading side of your structure, which your accountant will want to model
If the plan depends on fitting the building out, the fund is probably the wrong place for it. The ATO ruling on LRBAs is explicit that borrowed money cannot be applied to improving the asset, so a shell warehouse that needs racking, an office fit-out and three phase power has to be improved from money the fund already has. That arrives late in almost every case we see, usually after a contract is signed, and by then the options are all bad ones. Tell us about the fit-out at the same time you tell us about the purchase. Sometimes the honest answer is that the building belongs in the company and the super strategy belongs somewhere else entirely, and saying so costs us the loan. The tax comparison between the two columns is your accountant’s work, not ours, and it should be done before you go to contract rather than after.
Tell Us About the Fit-Out Before You Sign
Whether the building belongs in the fund or the company once the racking and the fit-out are priced in, before you go to contract. Fifteen minutes. No obligation.The Difference
Almost Nothing Here Fails on Credit
SMSF deals fall over on structure, on the property definition and on documents that were signed in the wrong order. Very few fail because the fund could not service the loan.
We Test the Property Before Anything Else
Wholly and exclusively used in a business, any dwelling on the land, mixed use, existing tenants and how the title is held. This is the first thing we look at, because if the property does not meet the definition then nothing further in the plan works and you should know that on day one.
We Work Alongside Your Accountant Rather Than Around Them
The fund strategy, the tax position and whether an SMSF suits you at all belong to your accountant and your licensed adviser. We arrange the debt, and we make sure the lender’s requirements and the fund’s own rules do not collide at settlement. We do not give superannuation or tax advice and we will not pretend to.
Always in Writing
A loan to a fund trustee acquiring business real property is not regulated consumer credit, so Best Interests Duty does not apply. ASIC Regulatory Guide 273 limits that duty to credit regulated under the National Credit Act. We disclose in writing how we are paid before you proceed regardless of whether the law requires it.
We’ll Tell You It Belongs Outside Super
Where the fund would have almost nothing liquid left after settlement, where the plan relies on borrowing to improve the building, or where the property will not meet the business real property test, we say so before you sign a contract. That costs us the loan and it saves you a structure you cannot unwind cheaply.
The Process
What Happens and What We’ll Need
More documents than any other property loan we arrange, and a sequence that matters as much as the paperwork.
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15 minutes
The property and the fund
What the building is and how it is used, who occupies it, whether you already own it, roughly what the fund holds and who the members are. No documents. You will finish the call knowing whether the property is likely to qualify and whether the fund looks able to carry it.
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We test
The property against the definition
Whether the land and buildings are used wholly and exclusively in a business, whether any dwelling on the site is within the ATO’s allowance, how mixed use or vacant portions are treated, and whether what you are buying is genuinely one asset or several. Where it is borderline, we say so and send you back to your accountant rather than pushing on.
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You gather
Fund and property documents
Assemble these properly. An SMSF submission missing a deed or a lease does not get assessed slowly, it gets set aside.
- SMSF trust deed and the corporate trustee’s details
- Holding trust deed, and the bare trustee company if there is one
- Fund financial statements, audit and member balances
- Contribution history for each member
- The contract of sale, or a valuation where the seller is related to the fund
- The lease, or the proposed lease and a market rental appraisal
- Financials for the business that will occupy the premises
- Identification for every trustee and guarantor
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We manage
Approval and settlement in the right sequence
Lender selection, valuation, conditions and settlement, with the sequence watched closely. The order in which the contract, the holding trust and the loan approval are executed can carry duty consequences, and that order is your solicitor’s call. Our job is to make sure the lender’s timetable never forces the wrong one.
Track Record
A Commercial Desk Since 2005
SMSF property lending sits between commercial credit and superannuation rules, and it needs both. We have run a commercial desk alongside residential for the whole of that time.
Related Options
If the Fund Is Not the Right Place For It
Most people weighing an SMSF purchase are really weighing it against one of these.
Commercial property loan
The same building bought in a company or trust, where improvements can be funded with borrowings.
Commercial property refinance
Where premises are already held outside super and the loan on them has drifted.
Investment loans
Residential investment property held in your own name rather than inside the fund.
Low doc loans
Where the occupying business is trading well but the financials are not yet finalised.
Corporate loans
Where the property sits inside a wider group structure and the debt needs to be looked at whole.
Every commercial facility we arrange
Back up to the full commercial finance range if none of these is it.
Send Us the Property.
We’ll tell you whether it qualifies before you go to contract.Questions Answered
SMSF Loan FAQs
The questions trustees and business owners ask us most often before a contract is signed.
What is an SMSF loan?
An SMSF loan is a limited recourse borrowing arrangement, or LRBA, that lets a self managed super fund borrow to buy a single asset. The ATO states the asset is held in a separate trust known as a holding trust, that the fund acquires a beneficial interest in the asset and the right to legal ownership once the loan is repaid, and that the other assets of the SMSF are protected if the loan defaults.
What is business real property?
The ATO defines business real property as land and buildings used wholly and exclusively in a business. Where a dwelling on the land is used for private or domestic purposes, the ATO allows the property to still qualify provided that dwelling sits on an area of no more than 2 hectares and the main use of the whole property is not domestic or private. Mixed use sites need testing rather than assuming.
Can my SMSF buy the premises my business operates from?
Generally yes, where the property is business real property. The ATO treats business real property leased between a fund and a related party as exempt from the in-house asset rules, which otherwise cap related party arrangements at 5 percent of the fund’s total assets. The lease must still be on an arm’s length basis and reflect market value.
Can I sell a property I already own to my own SMSF?
A fund generally cannot acquire an asset from a related party, but the ATO lists business real property as one of the limited exceptions, provided the price reflects market value. That is what allows a business owner to move premises they already hold into their own fund rather than having to find an unrelated seller. Get the property tested against the definition before you commit.
Can the fund borrow to renovate or fit out the property?
No. The ATO ruling SMSFR 2012/1 states that no amount borrowed under an LRBA may be applied to improve the single acquirable asset. Repairs and maintenance can be funded from borrowings, but an improvement, which the ruling describes as significantly altering the state or function of the asset for the better, has to be funded from money the fund already holds.
What is a holding trust?
The separate trust that holds legal title to the asset while the LRBA is on foot. The ATO states the asset is held in a trust separate from the SMSF, the fund holds the beneficial interest, and the fund has the right to legal ownership after repaying the loan. The order in which the contract, the holding trust and the loan are executed matters, and it is a question for your solicitor.
Can my SMSF buy residential property?
A fund can hold residential property, but it does not get the business real property exceptions. That means the fund generally cannot acquire the property from a related party, and leasing it to a related party would fall inside the in-house asset rules rather than being exempt from them. Speak to your accountant or SMSF adviser before assuming a residential purchase behaves the way a commercial one does.
Does Best Interests Duty apply to an SMSF loan?
Not to a loan to a fund trustee acquiring business real property. ASIC Regulatory Guide 273 states that the best interests obligations apply only to credit regulated under the National Credit Act, meaning credit provided to consumers for personal, domestic or household purposes or for the purchase or improvement of residential investment property. We disclose in writing how we are paid on every transaction regardless.
Visit Us
Penrith Based.Clients Australia-Wide.
Penrith is our head office and the one you can walk into without an appointment. We also meet clients at Parramatta and in the Sydney CBD by arrangement. SMSF files run alongside your accountant, adviser and solicitor wherever they are based.
Ready When You Are
Tell Us About the Property.
What the building is, who occupies it, and roughly what the fund holds. Fifteen minutes and we’ll tell you whether the property is likely to meet the business real property test, whether the fund looks able to carry the loan, and what the lender panel looks like for a deal like yours. If it belongs outside super, you will hear that too. Penrith based, clients Australia-wide. Intellect Finance Pty Ltd, ACL 390611.
A loan to a fund trustee acquiring business real property sits outside the consumer credit framework, so Best Interests Duty does not apply to it. We disclose how we are paid before you proceed on every transaction. Nothing on this page is credit assistance, superannuation advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice or an offer of credit, and no outcome is guaranteed.
Intellect Finance Pty Ltd | Australian Credit Licence 390611 | MFAA Member | AFCA Member
Important information General information only. Not credit assistance or an offer of credit. We charge you no fee. Every caveat and source on this page is collected here. Tap to read.
General information only. The content on this page is general in nature and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. It is not credit assistance, financial advice, legal advice or tax advice, and it is not an offer of credit. You should consider whether it is appropriate for you and seek your own advice before acting on it.
Nothing here is a guarantee. Loan approval, borrowing capacity, interest rates, loan to value ratios, valuations, timeframes and eligibility are determined by individual lenders and by independent valuers, not by us. They differ between lenders and change over time. Any figure, range or timeframe on this page is indicative and is not a quote, an offer, or a prediction of your outcome.
Business purpose lending. Credit provided wholly or predominantly for business purposes, including a loan to a superannuation fund trustee to acquire business real property, is not regulated consumer credit, and the Best Interests Duty and responsible lending obligations under the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 do not apply to it. We disclose how we are paid in writing before you proceed on every transaction regardless.
Superannuation. Nothing on this page is superannuation advice, financial product advice or a recommendation to establish, contribute to or borrow through a self managed super fund. Whether an SMSF is appropriate for you, whether a particular property meets the business real property definition, what you may contribute, and the tax, duty and estate consequences of any structure are matters for your accountant, your licensed financial adviser, your solicitor and the Australian Taxation Office. We are not tax agents, accountants, solicitors or licensed financial advisers.
Tax and legal. GST, stamp duty, land tax and the tax treatment of any ownership structure depend on your circumstances and on how the contract is written. We are not tax agents, accountants or solicitors. Confirm the position with a registered tax agent, the Australian Taxation Office, your accountant or your solicitor before acting.
How we are paid. Intellect Finance does not charge borrowers a fee for arranging finance, and does not charge a clawback fee where a loan is discharged early. Lenders pay us a commission on settlement. The basis of that commission is disclosed to you in writing in our Credit Guide before any credit assistance is provided.
Third-party information. Where this page refers to government schemes, regulatory settings, tax treatment or lender policy, that information is sourced from the relevant authority and was correct to the best of our knowledge at the date shown on this page. Those rules change, sometimes without notice. Always confirm the current position with the issuing authority or with us before relying on it.
Found something wrong? If you believe anything on this page is inaccurate or out of date, tell us at joe@intellectfinance.com.au and we will review and correct it.
Intellect Finance Pty Ltd | Australian Credit Licence 390611 | MFAA Member | AFCA Member