The All Monies Clause Hiding in Your Commercial Mortgage
How an all monies clause on a commercial property loan captures later debt against the same security, and how to tell if you are cross-collateralised.
Property Lending Hub
All Monies Clause · Cross-Collateralisation · Commercial Property
An all monies clause secures everything you owe that lender against the property, not just the loan you signed for it. Later debt is captured by wording that was already on title, and it outranks whoever registers next.
Quick Answer
An all monies clause secures everything, not just this loan. It is wording inside your mortgage extending the security to every obligation you owe that lender, which is how a property becomes cross-collateralised without a new registration. Read it before you take a second facility.
What does an all monies clause actually cover?
A named-facility security covers one loan. An all monies clause covers every obligation you owe that lender, present and future, and the difference between those two shapes is the whole subject. Most borrowers read the schedule, see one loan against one property, and reasonably assume the first shape is what they signed.
The wording is usually short. It extends the mortgage from the named advance to all amounts owing, on any account, in any capacity, now or later. It is not a separate agreement, it is rarely negotiated, and it is standard drafting across major banks, non-bank lenders and specialist funders alike. Nobody is hiding it. It simply does not get discussed, because at settlement there is only one facility and the clause has nothing to attach to yet.
The practical effect is that the security follows the borrower, not the facility. Refinance the trading overdraft with the same lender two years later and the overdraft is now secured by the premises, even though the registered mortgage was never amended. Later debt is captured by wording that was already on title from day one, and the security interest does not need re-registering because its scope was never limited.
How does a property become cross-collateralised without the word being used?
A property becomes cross-collateralised the moment a second facility with the same lender falls inside the all monies wording, which happens without a single new document being registered. Nobody signs a cross-collateralisation agreement, because there is nothing to sign.
Two consequences follow, and they are the ones that matter commercially. The first is release: you cannot sell or refinance the property in isolation while other facilities with that lender remain outstanding. The second is priority: because the clause was on title from the start, later debt takes the priority date of the original registration, which means it outranks whoever registers next.
Concentration with a single provider is precisely the exposure an all monies clause creates, and it is common among the SMEs that use non-bank funding rather than an unusual arrangement. The ScotPac figure above measures concentration within that group specifically, not across all businesses, so it is a signal about the SMEs most likely to hold this kind of security rather than a claim about every balance sheet.
The building approvals figure matters for a different reason. Non-residential approvals feed the pipeline of commercial premises being bought and built, and every one of those transactions ends with a security document that either limits the secured money or does not. Where this commonly shows up is a borrower who has been with the same lender for years and treats the relationship as a convenience, which it genuinely is, right up until the property needs to come out.
What does the clause look like in the document?
The clause looks like a definition rather than an obligation, which is why it reads as boilerplate. It usually appears in the interpretation section of the mortgage or the standard security terms incorporated by reference, and it defines the secured money rather than describing what the lender may do. Two or three words in that definition carry the entire effect.
| Wording | What it does | What it reaches |
|---|---|---|
| Will owe | Adds the future limb | Debt taken years after settlement |
| On any account | Breaks the link to the named facility | Overdrafts, cards and equipment facilities with the same lender |
| Whether alone or with others | Extends past sole borrowings | Joint borrowings and partnership debt |
| As principal, surety or otherwise | Pulls in secondary obligations | Guarantees given for a related entity |
Two adjacent things are worth checking in the same read. One is whether a guarantee you gave for a related entity is inside the same secured money definition, because that is the most common way business debt reaches a personally held premises. The other is whether the mortgage is a first or subsequent registration, since the same clause behaves very differently depending on where you sit.
Both of those are readings of a legal document rather than a pricing question. Have your solicitor confirm the reach of the wording before you act on any view of it, including this one.
How do you tell if your security is doing extra work?
Ask for a written payout figure for the property loan alone, and the answer tells you almost everything. If the lender responds with a combined figure, or says the property cannot be released until other facilities are cleared, the security is doing more work than the schedule suggests.
| Test | What you ask for | What the answer tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Standalone payout | A written payout figure for the property loan only | A combined figure means the security is not facility-specific |
| Release enquiry | Written confirmation of what is required to discharge the mortgage | Conditions referencing other facilities confirm the position |
| Document read | The secured money definition in the standard security terms | Future and any-account limbs confirm an all monies scope |
| Guarantee check | A list of every guarantee you have given that lender | Surety wording pulls those obligations into the same security |
- Ask, in writing, for a payout figure covering the property loan only, at a specific date.
- Ask what the lender requires in order to discharge that mortgage, and whether any other facility must be cleared first.
- Read the secured money definition in the standard security terms, not the letter of offer.
- List every guarantee you have given that lender, including for related entities.
- Compare the payout figure against the loan balance, and query any gap before you rely on either number.
In practice the document read and the payout request should be done together, because the document tells you what is possible and the payout figure tells you what the lender is actually applying. Where the two disagree, the conversation is worth having early rather than at the point of a sale.
The mechanics of how lenders take and release security are covered in more depth in the guide on how commercial property loans work, and the broader lending picture across non-residential property is tracked in the ABS lending indicators.
What works when you want to unwind it, and what stalls?
Unwinding an all monies position works when you give the lender a clean picture of what it keeps, and stalls when the request arrives as a demand rather than a restructure. The clause itself is not negotiable at signing in most cases. What is negotiable is the shape of the exposure afterwards, and that is a conversation about the remaining book rather than about the drafting.
Works
- Partial discharge requested alongside a full picture of remaining security
- Property facility refinanced to a different funder so the security leaves the group
- Guarantees for related entities identified and released separately
- New facilities placed with a second lender before the exposure concentrates
- Deed of priority negotiated up front where a second mortgagee is coming in
Stalls
- Release sought on a settlement deadline with no prior discussion
- Payout figure assumed to equal the property loan balance
- Later facilities taken with the same lender without checking the secured money definition
- Second mortgage arranged with no cap on prior debt
- Remaining exposure left unclear, so the lender reassesses from scratch
| Route | What the lender does | What it typically requires |
|---|---|---|
| Partial discharge | Releases one security and keeps the others | A full picture of the remaining exposure and a fresh assessment |
| Refinance the property facility | Loses the security entirely to another funder | A new lender comfortable with the whole position |
| Guarantee release | Removes a secondary obligation from the secured money | The related entity's own position standing on its own |
On timing, expect a partial discharge to be measured in weeks rather than days once the lender has what it needs, illustrative only and varies by lender. The assessment rather than the paperwork is the slow part, because the lender is effectively re-underwriting everything it keeps. Bringing that assessment forward is the single most useful thing a borrower can do.
How does the clause affect a second mortgagee behind you?
An all monies clause can expand the amount ranking ahead of a second mortgagee after that second mortgage has been registered, which is why a second-ranking funder wants the prior debt capped before it funds. The first mortgage secures whatever the borrower later owes the first lender, and that later debt takes the priority date of the original registration.
A first mortgage that quietly grows behind a second mortgagee is the reason deeds of priority exist. The deed does not change the registration order, it caps how much the prior lender is entitled to recover ahead of the later one, which is the number the second funder is actually pricing.
If you are looking at raising against equity behind an existing lender, that cap is the first thing to model rather than the last. The interaction with a second mortgage is set out in where your lender sits on title, and where speed matters and the incumbent will not move, a shorter-term option such as a caveat loan is sometimes the cleaner path.
Whichever instrument follows, check the default clause in the existing mortgage before anything new goes on title, because a further dealing without consent is frequently an event of default in its own right. That mechanic is covered in whether a caveat can breach the mortgage you already hold.
How is limited recourse borrowing different?
Limited recourse borrowing is structurally the opposite of an all monies clause: the lender's recourse is confined to the single asset acquired under the arrangement, rather than extending to everything the borrower owes. That contrast is the useful part for anyone weighing how much of their position sits behind one security.
One change is worth naming for premises held inside superannuation. The Australian Taxation Office confirms that the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Act 2026 received Royal Assent on 26 June 2026 and that, for limited recourse borrowing arrangements entered into on or after 10 August 2026, an arrangement can only be used to acquire real property where the property is business real property.
Three qualifications matter. Existing arrangements entered into before that date are unaffected, and so is the refinancing of those arrangements. Binding contracts to acquire real property exchanged before 10 August 2026 are also unaffected, even where the contract settles or the arrangement is entered into afterwards. And business real property is a defined test rather than a shorthand for commercial premises, so whether any particular property meets it is a question for your accountant or adviser rather than for this article.
None of that changes the all monies analysis on a mortgage held outside super. It is included because the two structures sit at opposite ends of the same question, which is how much of your position one security is allowed to carry. The lanes across property-secured funding sit together on the property lending hub.
An all monies clause is the quietest term in a commercial mortgage and one of the most consequential. It secures everything, not just this loan, it captures later debt, and it outranks whoever registers next. None of that is a problem while the relationship is stable and the exposure is understood. It becomes a problem at the moment you want to sell one asset, refinance one facility, or bring a second mortgagee in behind, and discover the security was never limited to the thing you thought you were borrowing against.
Key takeaway: Read the secured money definition before you take the second facility, not when you want the property released.Frequently asked questions
An all monies clause is rarely negotiated on standard commercial security terms, because it sits in the incorporated document rather than in the letter of offer that gets discussed. What is sometimes achievable is a facility-specific security or a written acknowledgment limiting what the mortgage secures, and that is a request made before settlement rather than after. Ask the question early, because the answer is usually no once the documents are executed.
The wording can reach debt owed by a related company where you have guaranteed that company's facility and the secured money definition includes obligations taken on as surety. The guarantee itself is the link, not the company relationship, so the document to check is the one you signed rather than the company's loan. Where a guarantee is already being enforced, the guide on what happens when a personal guarantee is called sets out the sequence.
You can ask for a security limited to the named facility, which keeps the property out of cross-collateralisation, and specialist and non-bank funders are sometimes more willing than major banks to document it that way, particularly where the relationship is single-facility from the outset. The trade is usually pricing or a tighter position elsewhere, since the lender is giving up recourse it would otherwise hold. Raise it while the terms are being negotiated rather than at document signing.
A partial discharge is where a lender releases one security and keeps the others, and it is a negotiation rather than a right you can exercise. Expect it to be measured in weeks rather than days once the lender has what it needs, illustrative only and varying by lender, because the slow part is the reassessment of everything that remains. Starting it before a sale contract is signed avoids the worst version of that timeline.
Refinancing the property facility to another funder removes that security from the group, but it does not automatically release a guarantee you gave for a separate facility with the original lender. Guarantees are released by their own instrument, and the release has to be requested and documented rather than assumed to follow the refinance. Ask for written confirmation of every obligation that has actually been released, not just the mortgage discharge.
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