AAA Mortgages arranges commercial SMSF lending for business owners and investors, part of the complex lending work we have advised on since 1988. Borrowing inside super is one of the most structure-sensitive things a fund can do, and since the 2026 rule changes it is also one of the most misunderstood. We arrange the lending and work alongside your accountant and financial adviser, whose advice on the super strategy itself stays exactly where it belongs, with them.
When trustees come to us
SMSF lending is a specialist market. Few traditional banks operate in it, the structures are unforgiving of sequencing errors, and the 2026 changes have narrowed the field further. The trustees who come to us usually arrive with one of these situations in hand.
01.
BUY-BACK LEASE
You want to buy the premises your business operates from through your SMSF and lease it back at market rent
02.
FUND ACQUISITION
Your fund is adding commercial property and needs the borrowing arranged alongside the right structure
03.
GRANDFATHERED REFINANCE
Your existing SMSF loan needs refinancing, including grandfathered residential facilities as lenders leave the space
04.
Who lends to SMSF
Your bank does not lend to SMSFs, and you are not sure who does
Sequence, lender, lease
01.
The structure comes first
An SMSF loan involves the fund, a holding trust and often a corporate trustee, and the order in which they are established and documented matters. Done out of sequence, the errors are expensive to unwind. We work through it with your accountant so the borrowing lands on a structure built to hold it.
02.
A specialist lender market
Most major banks left SMSF lending years ago, and the 2026 changes have thinned the field again. This is now largely non-bank territory, and AAA is accredited across it. We advise on which lenders suit the asset, the fund's position and the timeline you are working to.
03.
The lease-back, done properly
For business owners, the appeal is holding your premises in super while your business pays market rent to your own fund. It only works when the lease terms, valuations and documentation hold up to scrutiny, so we treat that rigour as part of the lending, not an afterthought.
Refinancing an existing SMSF loan
01.
LOANS THAT PREDATE THE CHANGE
A fund that borrowed to buy residential property before 10 August 2026 keeps that arrangement on its original terms. No forced sale, no unwind, no reset. Refinancing that loan to a different lender is permitted under the legislation, and the grandfathered status moves across with it.
02.
WHERE A REFINANCE STOPS BEING A REFINANCE
Protection holds when the new facility maintains the existing borrowing. A top-up, an equity release or a change to the security property can turn the arrangement into a new one, which the current rules no longer allow for residential property. That distinction is worth settling with your accountant before an application is lodged.
03.
COMMERCIAL FACILITIES
Commercial SMSF loans sit outside all of it. Borrowing for business real property was never restricted, so refinancing one runs as an ordinary commercial exercise with an SMSF structure attached.
04.
WHY THE TIMING MATTERS
Lenders are leaving the residential SMSF space because the pipeline of new business closed behind them. Funds still holding these loans face a smaller panel every quarter. Reviewing the facility while there are options on the table is a different exercise to reviewing it after a rate notice arrives.
SMSF lending after the 2026 changes
From 10 August 2026, self-managed super funds can no longer enter new borrowing arrangements to buy residential property. Borrowing to buy commercial property remains fully available, provided the asset qualifies as business real property under superannuation law.
What changed:
The Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Bill 2026 added a single condition to the SMSF borrowing rules: real property acquired under a new limited recourse borrowing arrangement must be business real property. Residential property does not meet that definition, so new residential borrowing ended.
What did not change:
Existing loans are grandfathered and continue on their terms. Refinancing an existing arrangement is explicitly permitted. Funds can still buy residential property outright with cash. And commercial SMSF lending, including a business owner buying their own premises through super, operates exactly as it did before.
The qualification that catches people:
Not every non-residential property automatically qualifies as business real property. Mixed-use buildings, vacant land and property with any residential component need careful review before a loan is arranged. This is a definition question to settle early, not one to discover at approval.
Common questions
Recent work
Recent scenarios, anonymised but real: what the client came with, what made it complex, and how it was structured. This is what advisory-led lending looks like in practice.
SMSF · QLD
SMSF · QLD
Business owners purchasing their commercial premises through an SMSF. Lease expired, vendor deadline imminent. Previous lender unable to move in time.
Approved and settled on deadline
SMSF · QLD
SMSF · QLD
Business owners purchasing their commercial premises through an SMSF. Lease expired, vendor deadline imminent. Previous lender unable to move in time.
Approved and settled on deadline
SMSF · QLD
SMSF · QLD
Business owners purchasing their commercial premises through an SMSF. Lease expired, vendor deadline imminent. Previous lender unable to move in time.
Approved and settled on deadline