‘Lease-to-Keep’ is a hire-purchase agreement that allows you to get the hospitality equipment you need now and pay for it in low, monthly amounts spread over two, three, four or five years. 

By saving you from having to make a large outlay up front, Lease-to-Keep helps protect your cash flow.

At the end of the term, you own the equipment.

Lease-to-Keep is for hospitality owners and operators seeking at least $10,000 of finance.

The Lease-to-Keep interest rate is based on the customer’s business circumstances. 

The rate varies according to the amount the customer borrows, how long their business has been trading, whether it has enough cash to service the lease, and its creditworthiness. 

To find out the rate that would apply to you, please call us on 1800 337 153.

Aside from the interest charged on the finance amount, the only fees that apply are:

• lease establishment fee of $495 (paid up front)
• early-termination fee of $300 (only if you pay out the equipment early).

Your equipment leasing payments will start as soon as the equipment is delivered to your business premises. 

If you’re doing a full fit-out or refurbishment and could experience delays — for example, due to council or construction issues — we recommend you hold off ordering the equipment until shortly before your venue is ready to start trading.

Equipment in stock can usually be delivered to your venue in 1–14 days, depending on your location. If it’s out of stock, you’ll need to allow for a longer lead time and order it sooner. Your equipment dealer will be able to help you decide when to order your equipment.

If for whatever reason your lease payments start before you commence trading, please contact us as soon as possible. 

You can pay the monthly lease payments via a direct debit from your bank account or credit card.

If, for whatever reason, you miss a lease payment, your account will fall into arrears.

If that happens, we’ll attempt to reprocess the direct debit or, if that fails, give you a call to find out how we can help you get your payments back up to date.

You may be charged a late-payment fee (for more information, please see the terms and conditions of your agreement).

Yes —  but only the interest component of the payments.*

Yes. A hire purchase is treated the same way as a standalone sale and is thus subject to Goods and Services Tax (GST). 

No matter how you account for GST (cash basis or non-cash basis), on your next Business Activity Statement you can claim the full value of the GST payments to be made across the life of the Lease-to-Keep agreement. (These are also known as advanced input tax credits.) *

Yes — you can claim a tax deduction for the decline in the value of your leased equipment. 

While depreciation deductions are generally available only to the legal owner of the asset, hire-purchase arrangements like Lease-to-Keep are generally treated as a notional sale of goods. 

In other words, the lessee (you) rather than the legal owner (SilverChef) is entitled to claim the depreciation of the equipment over its effective life.*

(This is unless you’re eligible to claim an immediate or accelerated deduction using a tax-depreciation incentive.)

Though the equipment is in your possession, we own it until you make your final lease payment, at which point you become the owner.

As the owner of the equipment, we’ll record an interest in the equipment on the Personal Property Security Register (PPSR).

During the term of the lease you can use the equipment as you see fit, provided it’s only used for business (not personal/domestic) purposes; and you don’t sell, give, assign, lend or release the equipment to a third party to use without our approval.

Also, if you move the equipment from the location you originally gave us, you must tell us immediately.

Lease-to-Keep is a two-, three-, four- or five-year hire-purchase agreement. 

You make low, monthly payments and, at the end of the agreement, you own the equipment.

After you’ve made your final lease payment, we’ll remove our interest from the PPSR upon your request.

The PPSR is the official government register of security interests in personal property — debts or other obligations that are secured by personal property. 

When someone registers a security interest on the PPSR, they are letting the world know that they claim to have a security interest over personal property, including company assets like rented or leased hospitality equipment. 

A security interest is most commonly created when a secured party (such as a lender) takes an interest in personal property of a grantor (such as a borrower), as security for a loan or other obligation. 

The security interest means the secured party can take the personal property (known as collateral) if the secured obligation is not met. 

Security interests can arise only when there is agreement between the grantor and the secured party.

No — if you Lease-to-Keep commercial kitchen equipment you don’t have the option to upgrade it.

If you’d like the flexibility of being able to upgrade the equipment at any time, Rent–Try–Buy may be a better solution for you.

No — you don’t have the option to return the leased equipment.

If you’d like the flexibility of being able to return the equipment after 12 months if it’s no longer suitable, Rent–Try–Buy may be a better solution for you.

If you sell your business while leasing equipment from SilverChef, you can ask us to assign, or transfer, the lease agreement to the new business owner (with their consent).

The agreement will be assigned to the new owner if they meet our standard credit-assessment criteria. If they don’t meet these criteria, you’ll remain liable for the lease payments.

If the agreement is assigned to them, the new owner can continue paying for and using the equipment for the remainder of the agreement, before taking ownership of it.

Yes — to confirm the balance owing on the equipment, please contact us. 

You’ll also be required to pay a $300 early-termination fee.

If you’d prefer not to get locked into a multi-year lease, a 12-month Rent–Try–Buy agreement may be a better solution for you.

While Lease-to-Keep and Custom Equipment Lease are both hire-purchase agreements, there are several key differences (see table below):