Private lender for Brisbane and Queensland business owners

Ask anyone who has done a caveat loan in Queensland and they’ll mention the clock. Queensland is the only state where a lender’s caveat runs out on its own, three months after it goes on the title, whether or not anyone complains. That single rule shapes how private business lending is structured from Coolangatta to Cairns.

This page covers it in detail, along with the rest of what a Queensland business owner should know: who runs the register, how eConveyancing works here, when transfer duty bites, what an auction commits you to, and the kinds of property that carry private loans. The lender behind this site funds nationally and doesn’t operate a Brisbane branch. Queensland’s electronic system means it doesn’t need one.

Why does a Queensland caveat loan have a three-month limit?

Section 122(2) of the Land Title Act 1994 says an equitable mortgagee can only lodge a lapsing caveat. A private lender holding a signed loan agreement with a charge over your property is exactly that: an equitable mortgagee.

Titles Queensland’s Land Title Practice Manual spells out what follows:

• Three months from lodgement. Unless the caveator starts a proceeding in a court to establish its interest and deposits a Form 14 notice of action within three months, the caveat lapses.
• Consent doesn’t help. A registered owner’s consent stops most caveats from lapsing, but it does not stop an equitable mortgagee’s caveat from lapsing.
• The owner can shorten it. An owner may serve a notice requiring the caveator to start proceedings within 14 days. If that notice is served and the Registrar is told, the caveat lapses at the end of the 14 days or three months after lodgement, whichever comes first.
• No second try. A further caveat by the same caveator on the same or substantially the same grounds can’t be lodged without the court’s leave.
• A cost for misuse. A caveator who lodges or continues a caveat without reasonable cause must compensate anyone who suffers loss, and the Act presumes no reasonable cause until the caveator proves otherwise.

In plain terms, a Queensland caveat loan is a short sprint. It suits a settlement that’s six weeks away, an ATO payment covered until a sale completes, or a gap before a bank refinance. If the exit could slip past the three-month mark, the loan should start as a registered second mortgage, or be converted to one well before the deadline. Our guide to converting a caveat covers that switch, and the caveat loan requirements checklist shows what’s needed to qualify.

Queensland’s registry and lodgement at a glance

Item	Queensland position
Registry	Titles Queensland, operated by Queensland Titles Registry Pty Ltd
Electronic lodgement	Mandated since 20 February 2023 for transfers, mortgages, releases, caveats and withdrawals of caveat
Networks	PEXA and Sympli are the two approved ELNOs
Lender’s caveat	Lapses three months after lodgement unless proceedings start
Owner’s notice	Can force the caveator to act within 14 days
Transfer duty	Queensland Revenue Office; liability usually arises at the contract date
Land tax	Assessed on freehold land owned at midnight on 30 June each year

The mandate matters for timing. Caveats and mortgages for professional lodgers go through the electronic network unless an exemption applies, so lodgement happens the same day documents are ready rather than after a courier run across town.

Which Queensland properties carry private business loans?

South-east Queensland’s growth has left many business owners asset-rich. The security we see most often includes:

• Industrial property around the port and airport precincts at Pinkenba and Eagle Farm, the southern corridor through Rocklea, Acacia Ridge and Coopers Plains, and the western estates at Wacol and Carole Park.
• The M1 corridor between Brisbane and the Gold Coast, including Yatala and Stapylton, where many trade and transport firms own their sheds.
• Homes and units in Brisbane suburbs, Ipswich, Moreton Bay and Logan, offered as security for a business purpose.
• Coastal and regional property on the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast, and in Toowoomba, Townsville, Mackay and Cairns.
• Vacant land and acreage, assessed case by case with a firm look at the exit.

There’s no formal valuation required on any loan. The specialist assesses the property itself, which avoids the wait for an outside report. Find out what your Queensland property supports with a 60-second enquiry.

What do Queensland auctions and contracts mean for your funding?

The Queensland Government’s auction guidance is clear: there is no cooling-off period when you buy at auction, bids are usually unconditional, so you generally can’t bid subject to finance, and only registered bidders can bid. Win the auction and you’re bound to settle.

For a private home contract on the standard form, a five business day cooling-off applies, which can be waived or shortened. It doesn’t apply to a private contract made within two business days of a failed auction where the buyer was a registered bidder.

Since 1 August 2025 the Property Law Act 2023 has required sellers to give a disclosure statement before a contract is entered into. For a business buying property, that’s useful: issues surface before you’re committed, and your lender can see them too.

When a bank’s approval lags behind an auction or a fixed settlement date, a short private loan against other property can complete the purchase on time. The settle a property purchase on time page explains how that works.

When does Queensland transfer duty fall due?

Queensland Revenue Office says duty liability typically arises when the contract is signed or becomes unconditional, and a buyer acting for themselves must lodge within 30 days of the liability date. That timing can be earlier than people expect, because it’s linked to the contract rather than to settlement.

Land tax is separate. It’s levied on the value of freehold land owned at midnight on 30 June each year, excluding your home, and it applies to individuals, companies and trusts. A business that holds an investment property on short-term funds should count it in the holding costs.

How a Brisbane private loan is put together

1. Enquire. Answer a few questions about the property, the debt on it, the amount and the exit. There’s no credit check.
2. Talk to a specialist. A real person tests the exit and, in Queensland especially, checks whether a caveat’s three-month life fits it.
3. Receive a Letter of Offer. Pricing reflects the security, LVR, term and exit, and the small assessment fee is shown here.
4. Sign with your solicitor. Every registered owner signs, and any guarantor too.
5. Lodge and fund. The caveat or mortgage is lodged electronically and funds are released at settlement.

Second mortgages and caveats generally cost more than a first mortgage because the lender sits behind the bank.

Two Queensland scenarios

Illustrative example: a Rocklea mechanical workshop needs $75k to clear an ATO debt before a director penalty deadline. The owner’s house in Sunnybank Hills has a bank loan with plenty of room behind it. A caveat loan funds the same day the documents are signed, and a sale of surplus equipment repays it within two months, well inside the three-month caveat window.

Illustrative example: a Sunshine Coast builder needs $480k for nine months while two completed townhouses in Caloundra sell. Because nine months runs well past the caveat clock, the loan is set up from the start as a registered second mortgage behind the construction lender, with interest capitalised and the sales as the exit.

Who should, and shouldn’t, use a private loan in Queensland?

Good fits:

• owners with equity in Queensland property and a deadline the bank won’t meet;
• deals where the exit is a dated event: a settlement, a sale, a refinance approval;
• borrowers with ATO arrears or past defaults, assessed case by case on equity and exit.

Poor fits:

• a caveat loan with an exit that’s likely to run beyond three months, unless it’s converted;
• personal or home-purchase borrowing rather than business purposes;
• anyone without a clear way to repay within 24 months.

Lending in other states

The three-month rule makes Queensland unusual, and every jurisdiction has its own quirks. NSW gives a caveator 21 days after a lapsing notice (Sydney lending). Victoria has moved commercial property toward an annual tax (Melbourne lending). WA, SA, the ACT and Tasmania each differ again, covered on the Perth, Adelaide, Canberra and Tasmania pages. The locations index puts them side by side, and our state-by-state lapsing guide goes deeper on caveats.

Check what your Queensland property can do

Your enquiry goes to fundU’s own specialists, because fundU is the direct lender rather than a broker with a panel. Nothing about enquiring affects your credit file, and your details stay with one lender.

Give us the real numbers: the property address, every loan registered on it and the date the funds must land. Get those right and the structure, including whether a caveat’s three-month life fits your exit, is settled on the first call. Begin your Queensland enquiry.