Finance to buy a franchise

HomeSec funds franchise purchases against equity in Australian real property, from $20,000 to $5,000,000 — the franchise fee, the fit-out, the equipment and the working capital for the first months. The franchise agreement itself is not security, which is why no financials and no franchisor accreditation are required.

What you are actually buying, and why it is hard to finance

A franchise purchase is mostly a licence: the right to trade under a brand, in a territory, on the franchisor's terms, for a fixed period. Around it sit real assets — a fit-out, equipment, opening stock — but the licence is usually the largest single number on the invoice and it is the hardest thing in Australian business lending to take security over. It frequently cannot be transferred without the franchisor's consent, it can be terminated for breach, and it ends when the term ends.

That is why franchise lending at a bank works the way it does. Banks that lend to franchisees of large, established systems are really lending against the system's track record and your personal serviceability, often with an accredited-lender arrangement behind it. Where the system is smaller, newer, or simply not on a panel, that route narrows quickly.

We approach it from the other end. The loan is secured by equity in real property, so what you are buying does not have to be security — which also means no franchisor accreditation, no system financials and no serviceability model. A person decides every loan. Every application is read by a Lending Manager and every credit decision is signed off by a person. We do not use artificial intelligence to assess, approve, decline or price a loan.

What the money usually covers

Use the time the Code gives you

The Franchising Code of Conduct requires a franchisor to give prospective franchisees disclosure material and not to execute a franchise agreement until a 14-day consideration period has expired, and it gives a franchisee a 14-day cooling-off right after signing, waivable only in narrow circumstances. The ACCC also maintains a public Franchise Disclosure Register where franchisors must publish information about their systems.

Those periods exist because franchise agreements are long, drafted for the franchisor, and very difficult to exit. Spend them having the agreement, the disclosure document and the lease read by a lawyer who works in franchising, and the numbers read by an accountant. Ask specifically about renewal, termination, restraint clauses, supply arrangements, and what happens to the fit-out at the end of the term.

Code requirements as published by the ACCC, checked 16 September 2026. General information only, not legal advice, and not a substitute for advice on the agreement in front of you.

Funding does not have to wait for accreditation

A common sequence: the franchisor has an opening date, the bank needs six weeks and wants the system on its panel, and the franchise fee falls due next Friday. Property-secured funding settles to your date, and can be refinanced by a bank afterwards at the bank's own pace once the outlet is trading and there are numbers to show. That is a normal structure rather than a fallback.

How much you can borrow

Take the property's value, multiply by 80% for residential security or 70% for commercial, and subtract what is already owing on it. What is left is roughly what is available, between $20,000 and $5,000,000. Several properties can be added together, and the borrower does not have to be the owner — companies, trusts and sole traders — including start-ups, with everyone on title signing. Up to 80% on residential and 70% on commercial. Lower on large acreage, and LVRs may reduce on properties worth less than $800,000.

From the call to the money

What it costs

Priced per file, on the property, the position, the amount and the exit. No rate is published, because a rate with "from" in front of it is the best file's number. How it is priced, and every fee that exists.

Reviewed by Catriona Anderson, General Manager