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Lease doc

Servicing read from the lease — not from your tax returns.

Lease-doc commercial loans assess affordability off the rental income alone. No personal financials, no BAS, no tax returns — just the lease, the tenant covenant, and a sensible LVR.

Reviewed · Adam King — 30 years in finance, Sunshine Coast

Lease-doc is the cleanest commercial structure when the rent tells the story

On a tenanted commercial property — whether that's a national retailer on a 7+7+7 or a local business with a few months left on its lease — the rental income can carry the loan, not the borrower's financials. Lease-doc lending recognises that. The credit officer reads the lease, satisfies themselves the rent covers the loan, and approves. Your tax returns aren't required. Your BAS isn't required. Your personal income is barely looked at. And the bar is lower than most borrowers assume. With the right lender, the lease just needs to be in place for a minimum of three months with a third-party tenant — it doesn't need to be an investment-grade name, and it doesn't need years left to run. Got a lease with a few months left on it? It's worth us looking at for you. In metro locations, 30-year terms are available regardless of the options remaining on the lease. That makes lease-doc the right product for three kinds of borrower. Self-employed investors whose tax returns are complicated by trust structures or recent business changes. SMSF trustees buying tenanted commercial where the fund itself doesn't have a long earnings history. And high-net-worth investors who simply don't want to share their broader financials to write a loan on a clean tenanted asset. The lender shortlist is narrow but stable. A specialist non-bank leads the lease-doc market; other specialist non-banks and a business-specialist bank compete sharply on bigger files. Up to 80% LVR is available with the right lender — our live rate cards carry current pricing, so we don't quote a figure here that would age. Servicing is read off the rent — and it can sit as low as 1x interest cover with some lenders, with 100% of the net commercial rent counted. Others want more headroom, and the required cover moves with the file. We run the servicing numbers before approaching anyone, and if it doesn't fit, the file doesn't go in.

When lease-doc is the right product

  • There's a third-party lease in place — it's been running for at least three months, and it doesn't need to be an investment-grade name or have years left on it. A lease with a few months remaining is still worth us looking at for you.
  • Property is income-producing — single tenant or multi-tenant.
  • Borrower has complicated personal financials and prefers not to provide them.
  • The rent covers the loan — servicing can sit as low as 1x interest cover with some lenders, with 100% of the net commercial rent counted.
  • Borrower entity is clean (trust, company, SMSF) and the asset purchase is for hold, not flip.

What lease-doc policy looks like with the right lender

Indicative policy from the sharper end of the lease-doc panel — file-dependent, confirmed at submission. Current pricing sits on our live rate cards.

  • 30-year terms available — the lease just needs to be in place for a minimum of three months with a third-party tenant.
  • 30-year terms available regardless of the options remaining on the lease — metro locations.
  • Up to 80% LVR available.
  • Servicing can sit at 1x interest cover (DSCR).
  • 100% of the net commercial rent counted.

Take it to a broker

Send us the lease. We'll model it.

We'll run the ICR, shortlist three lease-doc lenders, and have indicative pricing back in a week.

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Questions you might have

The honest answers.

Real numbers · honest answers

The lease tells the story.

Send us the lease and the asset details. We'll model the ICR and tell you who'll write it.

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General information only — not personal credit advice. Rates and figures shown are indicative and subject to confirmation against current lender pricing and policy.