SMSF + owner-occupied clinic: Melbourne CBD $900k LRBA

Client profile

Why they kept getting declined

CBA, Westpac, and a second-tier lender — 3 declines because:

1. Commercial property used by the SMSF member's own business (the clinic) — banks worried "own-use" would breach LRBA rules
2. Operating entity is a family trust, not the SMSF — the business real property exemption document chain is complex
3. Spouses both SMSF trustees + clinic directors — conflict-of-interest flag

How Halo moved it

Stage	Action	Days
Day 0	Redraft SMSF investment strategy clause	0
Day 1-2	Align with SMSF auditor on business real property opinion	1
Day 3	Submit to Bendigo commercial SMSF channel	1
Day 4-5	Provide entity diagram + directors' guarantee	2
Day 6	Formal approval	1

Total = 6 business days — 4× faster than the declining banks' average review.

Key move: we wrote into the SMSF investment strategy that the fund "is permitted to acquire business real property and fund it via an LRBA, with rent returning to the SMSF". That single sentence resolved the compliance question three other banks had wrestled with.

Outcome

• Loan $900k, LVR 60% (property $1.5M)
• Rate 7.14% p.a. variable (10 bp below the standard Halo SMSF commercial rate of 7.24%)
• Clinic rent $11,500/month → all flowing back to SMSF as passive income
• Tax effect: $138k annual SMSF rental income → ~$21k/year contribution tax advantage

Replicates to similar scenarios

• Doctor / lawyer / accountant SMSFs buying owner-occupied commercial
• Hospitality owners redirecting rent to their own SMSF
• Spouse co-directors + co-SMSF-trustees structures

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