If you want to set up an office or expand an existing on, you may be able to finance the cost of lease hold improvement s in a couple of different ways.
As far as who would qualify for financing, any office or business set up that requires both equipment and leaseholds can be considered for financing leasehold improvements.
The most commonly funded applicants are from the medical profession and include medical practices that involve dental, dentistry, chiropractic, optometric, orthotic, orthodontist, podiatrist, allergology, andrology, anesthesia, angiology, aviation medicine, cardiology, dermatology, disaster medicine, emergency medicine, endocrinology, gastroenterology, general practice, gerontology, gynecology, hematology, hepatology, immunology, infectious diseases, intensive care, kinesiology, medical genetics, military medicine, nephrology, neurology, nuclear medicine, obstetrics, oncology, oral surgery, palepathology, palliative medicine, pathology, pediatrics, podiatry, psychiatry, pulmonology, radiology, rehabilitation medicine, rheumatology, serology, sexual health, sports medicine, toxicology, transplant medicine, urology.
There are many other business applications that would qualify for leasehold financing including hair salon, financial services, office building, legal practice, insurance agent, real estate agent, mortgage broker, government services, retail store, consumer services, business services, and so on.
While basically any type of scenario can be considered, medical leasehold improvement financing is probably the most popular due to the large number of offices across Canada requiring financing for leasehold, and the strong repayment history for medical practitioners that are granted leasehold related financing.
The actual financing is primarily available in two forms. The small business loan program insured by the federal government will finance equipment and leaseholds up to a total value of $250,000. This program is very broad based in terms of the types of businesses and industries it will consider.
Leasehold improvements can also be financed through equipment leasing programs provided by Canadian based leasing companies. The key difference with leasing is that the applications considered are far more limited due to the fact that there is no government lease insurance program to protect the losses incurred by leasing companies from lessee default situations.
Leasing companies are primarily focused on providing leasehold improvement financing to medical offices and other related professional service organizations that have very strong credit profiles and low default rates.
For those that qualify, the ability to finance leaseholds is a definite plus as the funding would otherwise have to come out of cash flow, reducing the amount of work that could be performed in many cases.
If you’re trying to figure out how to finance leasehold improvements, give us a call and we’ll identify the best options available for your particular scenario.