Private lenders in Melbourne, and what changes when the security is Victorian
HomeSec is a Melbourne private lender, with its office and its whole credit team in Victoria and lending its own money since 2004. Loans from $20,000 to $5,000,000 are secured by first mortgage, second mortgage or caveat over Victorian real estate, assessed on equity, business purpose and the exit rather than on trading or a credit score.
See if you qualify in sixty seconds. No credit check to apply, no financials, no payments for the first six months. That's the HomeSec Advantage.
See if you qualifyA Melbourne lender in the literal sense
A great many lenders that rank for this phrase are not in Melbourne. They are brokerages with a Melbourne landline, or funds in another state with a Victorian page. That is not a scandal, but it does change what happens to your file, so it is worth being specific about what is here.
HomeSec's office is in Knoxfield, in Melbourne's east — not the CBD, and we would rather say so than imply a Collins Street address we do not have. What is in that office is the part that matters: the credit team that reads your file, the person who gives you an indicative answer on the phone, and the decision itself. Nothing is referred to a funder in another city, because the money is ours. We have been lending against Australian real property since 2004, which makes this one of the country's oldest private business lenders, and Victoria is the home state.
The practical consequence is small and real: a Victorian file is assessed, documented and settled by people in the same time zone as the registry it is lodged with, using settlement solicitors who are also here. Victorian files are typically the fastest we write.
What genuinely differs about a Victorian security
Most of what you read about caveat loans and second mortgages is written as though Australia had one land system. It has eight. A caveat loan in Melbourne and one in Geelong involve identical mechanics; a caveat loan in Victoria and one in New South Wales do not, and the differences are the sort that decide whether a deadline is met.
| Victoria | What it means for your file |
|---|---|
| Land Use Victoria holds the register | Titles, dealings and caveats are lodged here, electronically in the ordinary case. Your conveyancer deals with it daily. |
| Caveats sit under the Transfer of Land Act 1958 | A different Act from every other state, with its own removal machinery — the next two rows are the parts that catch people. |
| A Victorian lawyer has to certify a removal application | Under section 89A, an application to the Registrar to lapse someone else's caveat must carry a certificate signed by a person engaged in legal practice in Victoria, giving their opinion that the caveator does not hold the interest claimed. No other state asks for that, and it is why removing a disputed Victorian caveat is a legal engagement rather than a form. |
| The clock is at least 30 days, not 21 | The Registrar cannot specify a lapsing day less than 30 days after the notice is served. In New South Wales the equivalent window is 21 days from service to obtain a court order. If you are planning around a contested caveat, that difference is nine days of settlement risk. |
| Proceedings can be in a court or at VCAT | A caveator keeps the caveat alive by telling the Registrar that proceedings to substantiate the claim are on foot — and in Victoria those may be at VCAT rather than in a court, which is a Victorian option with its own timetable. |
None of that applies to a caveat HomeSec lodges for a loan that is being repaid. That one comes off by withdrawal on the day the payout is received, usually electronically and usually the same day. The removal machinery above is what matters when there is a caveat on your title that you did not agree to — and if there is, it is the reason to get a title search before you plan anything. Our guide on what a caveat actually is covers the rest.
What Melbourne business owners actually ring about
The Melbourne search traffic for private lending is dominated by three things, and they are the three we write most of in this state.
- Second mortgages. Behind the existing bank loan, which stays exactly as it is — same rate, same term, nothing refinanced and no break costs. What decides the amount is the equity above what the bank is owed. How a second mortgage works.
- Caveat loans, usually against a deadline. A caveat does not need the first mortgagee's consent, and that is the whole reason it exists as a product: waiting one to two weeks for a bank to issue consent is not an option when a Victorian settlement is on Friday. Caveat loans for business.
- Secured business loans where the bank has already said no. Usually on serviceability, a late lodgement or a mark on the file — none of which we assess on. What is still open when everyone has said no.
Melbourne and regional Victoria
Melbourne metropolitan security is the bulk of the Victorian book, but regional Victoria is normal business rather than an exception — Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, the Latrobe Valley, the Surf Coast, the Goulburn and Murray, the north-east. The mechanics are identical, because they are set by the same Victorian Act. What changes on a regional security is the LVR on larger holdings and in very small markets, and the reason is always the same one: how long the property would take to sell. We will give you the figure for your property on the first call rather than a blanket number. More on where we lend.
Ringing the Melbourne number
(03) 9017 6611 reaches the same credit team that would answer the national line, which is the point rather than a disclaimer: one team, one set of files, nobody waiting on a branch to call head office back. Have the property's rough value, what is owing on it and to whom, the purpose and the exit, and you will get an indicative answer on that call — usually in minutes, and including a no with the reason, which is worth more than a fortnight of waiting.
This page describes Victorian land titles procedure in general terms and is not legal advice. Section 89A of the Transfer of Land Act 1958 and the Victorian Registrar's requirements are the primary sources behind the table above; what applies to your title is a question for your conveyancer or solicitor. Credit provided for those purposes is not regulated under the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 (the NCCP Act), and the protections available to consumer borrowers do not apply. Every application is subject to assessment and approval.
Melbourne questions
Who are the private lenders in Melbourne?
Is a Melbourne private lender faster than one interstate?
How long does it take to remove a caveat in Victoria?
Do I need to come to your office?
Can I get a second mortgage in Melbourne without my bank's consent?
Do you lend outside Melbourne in regional Victoria?
What do you actually assess on a Melbourne file?
See if you qualify in sixty seconds
Three short questions, no credit check to apply and no financial statements. A Lending Manager reads it and calls you back with a real answer — not a call centre, not an algorithm.
That's the HomeSec Advantage.
Reviewed by Paul Stone, Joint Chief Executive