Property Based Lending: short-term loans against commercial and investment property

Can you borrow from Property Based Lending against the house you live in? No, and it’s worth knowing that before anything else. PBL lends against commercial and investment property only. If you own a factory, an office suite, a shop or a rental property with equity in it, read on. If your family home is the only real estate you own, skip to the section on alternatives further down.

Property Based Lending is a private lender with its head office on William Street in Melbourne’s CBD. It says it lends its own money, doesn’t syndicate loans to individual investors, and has more than 30 years of private lending experience behind it. All details here come from its website as at October 2026.

What loans does Property Based Lending offer?

PBL publishes six loan pages, all secured by property:

Loan	Security taken	Common purpose
First mortgage finance	Title of a commercial or investment property	Acquisitions, large working capital needs, refinancing expensive short-term debt
Second mortgage finance	Ranks behind your existing first mortgage	Extra funds without refinancing the current loan
Caveat finance	A caveat lodged on the title	Urgent needs where the first mortgage stays undisturbed
Bridging finance	Either mortgage position	Covering the gap until a sale, settlement or refinance
Tax debt loan	First or second mortgage	Clearing an ATO liability in one go
Debt consolidation	Property-secured	Rolling several business debts into one

Its published range starts at $150k. The top end is less clear: the product pages say up to $10m, while an FAQ on the same site says $5m. Treat the ceiling as something to confirm with PBL directly. Terms are listed as 1 to 12 months.

How fast is Property Based Lending?

Speed is PBL’s main pitch. It says loans can settle within 24 hours of formal approval, and puts that against four to eight weeks at a typical bank and one to two weeks at a private lender that syndicates its loans to investors.

The reason it gives is structural. Because it lends its own capital, it doesn’t need to find investors to fund each deal, and its internal property team does the security assessment rather than waiting on an outside panel. Note the wording, though: the 24 hours runs from formal approval, not from your first phone call. Title checks, the property assessment and loan documents still need to happen first.

For a sense of what a short bridge costs in dollars, plug your numbers into our bridging loan calculator.

Which businesses suit PBL?

Its own pages describe the borrowers it targets: established Australian businesses (and brokers acting for them) with equity in a commercial or investment property, a clear purpose and a defined way out. In practice that looks like:

• An owner-occupied commercial premises with spare equity. Think of a joinery company in Melbourne’s south-east with an unencumbered factory, $480k of overdue tax and an ATO letter warning of enforcement.
• An investor-owner with a rental property who wants to fund stock, equipment or a fit-out in their trading business.
• A business between two transactions, such as selling one commercial site and settling on another.

It’s a poorer match for amounts under $150k, terms beyond a year, start-ups with no property, or anyone whose only real estate is their home.

Has the bank already turned you down on a commercial property loan? Get a second opinion from us. There’s no credit enquiry involved in asking.

Using PBL to clear an ATO debt

PBL has a dedicated tax debt product, and its pitch is straightforward: pay the ATO in full, stop penalties and enforcement such as garnishee notices and director penalty notices, and keep your working capital for running the business. It presents the loan as a bridge to settle the debt, not a long-term answer.

Before you go down that path, it’s worth comparing it with an ATO payment plan, which may be cheaper if the debt is manageable and the ATO will agree. Our guide to funding a tax bill and our page on ATO tax debt business loans set out both routes honestly. If a director penalty notice has already arrived, read our explainer on director penalty notice funding first, because the clock matters.

Questions to put to PBL before you sign

1. What is the current maximum loan for my security, $5m or $10m?
2. What is the maximum LVR for my property type and location?
3. Adding establishment, legal and valuation charges together, how many dollars will this loan cost from start to finish?
4. Is the caveat or mortgage being registered over Victorian land (through Land Use Victoria) or another state’s registry, and who pays those fees?
5. What happens at month 12 if my exit is late?

Should a dispute with any lender arise down the track, the federal small business ombudsman (ASBFEO) offers free help to work it through.

If your home is your only property, or PBL says no

• Your home is the only security: some private lenders, including our partner HomeSec Business Finance, lend for business purposes against residential property. Read business loans against your home for the trade-offs.
• You need less than $150k: Ventra Capital and others write smaller second mortgages, and unsecured business loans may work if turnover is strong.
• You need longer than 12 months: a commercial property loan from a bank or non-bank lender can run for many years. Our page on business loans against commercial property compares the routes.

Getting a straight answer on your property

PBL suits a particular borrower: commercial or investment equity, a large need and a short horizon. Many owners are close to that profile but not quite inside it, and that’s where a second opinion pays off.

Our enquiry asks for about sixty seconds of your time. Nothing is recorded against your credit history for asking. You won’t end up on a list that gets passed around half the lending market. One of our team works through the property details and your purpose, then phones you. Be exact about the property type, the balance owing against it and your repayment plan; those three answers decide which lender we suggest first.

Tell us about your property and purpose →