What documents do you need for a private mortgage?

If you’ve applied for a business loan through a bank, you probably remember the list: two years of tax returns, financial statements, BAS, a business plan, forecasts, aged debtors, personal statements of assets and liabilities. The government’s own guidance to small businesses lists identification, a business plan, financial reports, forecasts, lease agreements and personal financial information as typical bank-style requirements.

A private property-secured loan works differently. The lender’s comfort comes mainly from the property and the exit, so the paperwork follows those two things. Here’s what you’ll actually be asked for, why each item matters, and what you can safely leave out.

What does a private lender need before it can give you an answer?

Before any documents change hands, a lender needs enough information to say whether the deal makes sense. That’s what the initial enquiry is for. Our 60-second form asks for:

• The property address (or addresses) you’re offering as security.
• What the property is: house, unit, shop, factory, office, vacant land, rural.
• What’s owing on it now, and to whom.
• How much you need and what it’s for.
• How you plan to repay it, and roughly when.

Get those five things right and you’ll receive a realistic indication quickly. Get them wrong — for example, forgetting a second loan already on the title — and the answer you’re given will change later, which wastes everyone’s time.

What’s on the full document checklist?

Once the deal looks workable, these are the documents that take it to a Letter of Offer and then to settlement.

Document	Why it’s needed	Who usually provides it
Photo ID for each borrower, director and guarantor	Identity must be verified before a mortgage is granted	You
Property address and title details	To confirm ownership and see what’s already registered on title	You; the lender’s solicitor searches the title
Recent statement or payout letter from each existing lender	To confirm exactly what’s owing and what must be repaid at settlement	Your existing lender, on request
Recent photos and a short description of the property	Helps the direct assessment, as no formal valuation is required	You or your agent
Leases (for tenanted commercial or industrial property)	Shows income, tenancy terms and any effect on saleability	You or your property manager
Company extract and director details (if a company is involved)	Confirms the entity, its officeholders and who must sign	Your accountant, or a search of ASIC’s registers
Trust deed and amendments (if a trust is involved)	Confirms the trustee’s power to borrow and mortgage	Your accountant or solicitor
ABN details	Confirms the business and its registration status	ABN Lookup or your accountant
ATO statement or payment arrangement (if there’s tax debt)	Shows the amount and whether it’s being paid out by the loan	Your accountant or ATO online services
Evidence of exit	The single most persuasive document in the file	You, your agent, broker or bank
Your solicitor’s details	So loan documents can be issued and settlement booked	You

Why does every director and guarantor need ID?

Under the national rules for electronic conveyancing, mortgagees must take reasonable steps to verify the identity of their mortgagors, and they can do this through authorised agents. In practical terms, every person signing as borrower, director of a borrowing company, mortgagor or guarantor will need to have their identity confirmed before settlement.

This catches people out most when a property is owned jointly, or when a family member is providing security. If your sister owns half the property, she signs, and she needs ID. If you’re using someone else’s property, our page on third-party security explains what’s involved.

What extra do companies and trusts need?

Plenty of business property is held in a company or a family trust, and that’s perfectly normal for a private lender. The extra paperwork exists so the lender’s solicitor can confirm three things: the entity exists, the right people are signing, and the entity has the power to borrow and give a mortgage.

• Companies: ASIC’s registers hold information on companies and registered business names. The lender’s solicitor will usually run a company search, but having your current directors, shareholders and registered office details on hand avoids back-and-forth.
• Trusts: the trust deed (and every variation) is essential. Old deeds sometimes restrict borrowing or require specific consents, so it’s worth having your solicitor glance over it early.
• ABN: ABN Lookup is a free public service showing whether an ABN is active or cancelled, the entity’s GST status and historical trading names. Make sure the details match the entity named in your application.

More detail is on our page about company or trust-owned property.

Is anything different for commercial, industrial or vacant land?

The core list stays the same, but the property itself raises a few extra questions:

• Tenanted commercial or industrial property: copies of current leases, the rent, lease expiry dates and any options. A long lease to a solid tenant can make a property easier to assess.
• Owner-occupied premises: a short note on how the business uses the site, and whether you’d stay or relocate if the exit is a sale.
• Vacant land: zoning, any approvals in place or underway, and the plan for the land. Vacant land is considered case by case, so the clearer the picture, the better.
• Rural property: the land area, improvements and how it is used. Rural property is also considered case by case.

What can you leave in the drawer?

This is where a private loan saves real time. For most deals you can skip:

• A formal valuation report. No formal valuation is required. The property is assessed directly — see how that works on our no-valuation loans page.
• Two years of tax returns and full financials as the main test of the loan. If your exit relies on business income, supporting documents help, but they aren’t the backbone of the assessment.
• Detailed forecasts and business plans. A clear one-paragraph explanation of the purpose and the exit usually does more work.

If your situation is genuinely low-doc, our low-doc first mortgage page explains what’s still needed and why.

Which document matters most?

The evidence of your exit. A private lender is lending for a short term, so the proof that the loan will be repaid on time carries enormous weight. Strong examples:

• A signed contract of sale for the security property or another asset.
• An agent’s appraisal and marketing plan, if you intend to sell.
• Written feedback from a bank or broker on a planned refinance, plus proof the bank’s concern is being resolved.
• A signed construction or supply contract with a payment schedule, if business income is the exit.

Our guide to building an exit strategy goes through each in more depth.

Illustrative example: A Brisbane café owner needs $180k to fit out a second site and owns an investment unit with $220k owing to a bank. On the day of enquiry, the owner sends photo ID, the unit’s address, a recent bank statement for the existing loan, a few photos of the unit, and an email from the café’s accountant confirming an expected refinance once the second site has traded for six months. Because the request sits within the $20k–$250k range and the documents arrive complete, same-day funding is possible. The only hold-up that could intervene is the solicitors’ paperwork, so the owner has a solicitor ready before the Letter of Offer arrives.

What paperwork comes after approval?

Once the lender is comfortable, you’ll receive a Letter of Offer setting out the loan amount, term, how interest is structured, the security, and the assessment fee (a small fee that varies per loan and is shown on the Letter of Offer). After you accept, the lender’s solicitor issues the loan documents — the loan agreement, mortgage and any guarantees — to your solicitor.

Have your solicitor read them with you. They will check the terms, explain the obligations, and confirm the signing and ID requirements are complete so settlement can be booked.

What usually slows the paperwork down?

The same few things cause most delays:

• Payout figures that arrive late from the existing lender.
• A missing signatory, often a co-owner or second director.
• Trust deeds that can’t be found, or old deeds with unexpected restrictions.
• No solicitor lined up when the Letter of Offer is accepted.
• Incomplete or inaccurate information in the original enquiry, such as an extra debt registered on the title.

Fix those up front and most of the remaining timeline sits with the lawyers and the settlement booking. The steps are laid out on our how it works page.

Got the basics ready? See if you qualify

You don’t need the whole folder to start. If you know the property, roughly what it’s worth, what’s owing on it and how you plan to repay, that’s enough for a first answer. Begin your 60-second enquiry — there’s no credit check at the enquiry stage, your file isn’t passed around to multiple lenders, and a specialist reviews it personally.

Please answer each question accurately, particularly the property details and every debt secured against it. Honest numbers up front mean the answer you get first is the answer that holds. Get started on your enquiry.