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Private Mortgage Lender in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta

Lendmax Capital is a private mortgage lender funding residential first and second mortgages on its own balance sheet. Files arrive through licensed mortgage brokers or the borrower application, are priced against published criteria, and are answered by the underwriter who will instruct the closing — with a target of two hours on a complete submission.

Brokers — submit a file Apply for Mortgage See the seven programs

Published by Lendmax Capital MIC|Updated October 1, 2026About our team

What you should know, in five lines.

Lendmax lends directly on residential property in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta — first mortgages, second mortgages and a revolving equity line.
Approval is equity-based: the property, the loan-to-value and the exit plan decide the file, not a bank's income checklist. No income documents are required on any program.
Loan-to-value runs to 80% depending on program, position and market; credit is accepted from the 500 band under Flex and the 600 band under Prime.
Terms are typically 6 to 12 months, interest-only, open or closed, and every advance is written to a stated exit back to a cheaper lender.
Brokers submit to deals@lendmaxcapital.ca; borrowers without a broker apply online. Most complete files get a priced answer the same day.

Definition

What a private mortgage lender is — and is not.

A private mortgage lender lends its own or its investors' capital

A private mortgage lender is a company or individual that funds mortgages from private capital rather than from insured deposits. Because it is not a bank, it is not bound by the federal mortgage stress test or by insurer underwriting rules, and it can lend on the strength of the property and the exit plan. Lendmax Capital is structured as a mortgage investment corporation: investor capital is pooled and placed behind registered mortgage charges, administered under FSRA Licence 13002.

The trade-off is price. A private mortgage carries a higher rate and a lender fee than a bank mortgage, because the lender is taking a risk the bank declined. That is why every Lendmax term is written as a bridge — a defined period to fix the reason the bank said no, then a refinance to a lender that costs less.

How a private mortgage differs from a bank mortgage

	Bank / A-lender	Private lender
Approval basis	Income, credit score, stress test	Equity, property, exit plan
Credit floor	Typically 680+	From 500 (Flex) or 600 (Prime)
Income documents	Required, verified	Not required
Term	1–5 years, amortized	6–12 months, interest-only
Time to fund	2–6 weeks	2–5 business days; 48 hours on quick-close seconds
Best use	Long-term financing	A bridge: purchase under pressure, consolidation, arrears, equity takeout

Private mortgage options

The four ways a private lender can help.

Every option below maps to a named Lendmax program with published criteria. Rates and fees are quoted per file.

Private 1st mortgage

Choosing a lender

What to look for in a private mortgage lender.

"Best private lender" is a search people run, and a claim no licensed lender should make about itself. What you can check are the things below — and each one is a fact about Lendmax you can verify on this site.

Published criteria, not a mystery

A lender that hides its box in a PDF is asking you to submit blind. Lendmax publishes the LTV ceiling, credit floor, market rule and term for all seven programs, and a calculator that tells a broker which bucket a file lands in before it is sent.

Costs disclosed in writing before signing

Rate, lender fee, legal fees and any holdback belong on the commitment, reviewed with the borrower by a licensed broker or agent. Lendmax quotes every figure per file; nothing on this site is an offer of credit.

An exit before the advance

A private mortgage without a plan to leave it is how borrowers get trapped. No Lendmax file is approved without a stated, plausible repayment path and a contingency if the first one fails.

A regulated administrator behind the money

Payments are received and remitted under a licensed mortgage administrator, FSRA Licence 13002, with the obligations and the regulator that licence carries.

Speed you can hold them to

A two-hour pricing target on a complete file, seconds funded in up to two business days, firsts in up to five, and a quick-close series built for 48 hours. Published on the broker desk, not promised in a phone call.

No solicitation of the broker's client

The borrower belongs to the broker who brought the file. Renewal conversations come back through the broker 90 days before maturity. That is a standing rule in writing.

Where we lend

Private mortgage lending by province.

Ontario

Prime programs in centres of 50,000 or more — the GTA, Ottawa, Hamilton, London, Kitchener–Waterloo, Windsor and the rest — with Flex reaching the small towns, cottage country and rural Ontario in between. Ontario carries most of Canada's private-mortgage demand, and most of ours.

Ontario lending areas

British Columbia

Vancouver, Surrey, Burnaby, Richmond and the Lower Mainland under Prime; Victoria, Kelowna, the Okanagan, the Island and the Interior under Flex. High price-to-income and a large self-employed base make BC a natural second-mortgage market.

BC lending areas

Alberta

Calgary and Edmonton under Prime; Red Deer, Lethbridge, Airdrie, Fort McMurray, Grande Prairie and acreage property under Flex. Rotational and contract income that a bank cannot fit is exactly the file an equity-based lender can.

Alberta lending areas

Private mortgage lender — questions people ask

How does a private mortgage work?

You borrow against the equity in a property for a short term — usually 6 to 12 months — paying interest only. The lender registers a charge on title, the file is priced on the property's value and your plan to repay, and at maturity you refinance to a cheaper lender, renew, or repay from a sale. Lendmax writes the exit into the file before the money advances.

What are private mortgage rates in Canada?

Higher than a bank's, because the lender is taking the risk the bank declined. Where a file sits within that range depends on position (first or second), loan-to-value, credit tier, market and term. Lendmax does not publish a rate sheet; every rate and lender fee is quoted per file after review of the application, appraisal and credit report, and appears on the commitment before anything is signed. The programs page sets out the structure — LTV bands, term and fee treatment — for each product.

Who are the private mortgage lenders in Ontario, BC and Alberta?

They range from individuals lending through a broker, to mortgage investment corporations like Lendmax Capital that pool investor capital under a licensed administrator, to larger institutional alternative lenders. The useful distinction is not size but whether criteria are published, costs are disclosed in writing and an exit is required — see the six checks above.

Can I get a private mortgage in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary or Edmonton?

Yes. All four are Prime markets — centres of 50,000 or more where Lendmax writes its sharpest terms — as are Mississauga, Brampton, Ottawa, Hamilton, Surrey, Burnaby and every other centre of that size in the three provinces. Smaller centres and rural property are served under Flex.

Do I need a mortgage broker to get a private mortgage from Lendmax?

Lendmax lends through licensed mortgage brokers and agents, and most files arrive that way. If you do not have a broker, the online application starts the process and a licensed Lendmax agent reviews it, tells you which program the file fits and sets out the exit plan before anything is signed.

What fees does a private mortgage lender charge?

Typically a lender fee, a broker fee where a broker is involved, and legal fees for the charge — with any holdback stated on the commitment. On Lendmax's quick-close Prime 50 and Prime 75 seconds the broker fee and lawyer fee are included in one all-in price. Every fee is disclosed in writing before you sign; none is charged up front.

Markets

Where Lendmax lends, city by city.

Market size sets the ceiling before credit or position do. A centre of 50,000 or more is a Prime market; below that the file is Flex and assessed on how readily the property would sell. The table is the practical version of that rule.

Market	Family	What is particular about it
Toronto and the GTA	Prime	Deepest market Lendmax lends in. Condominiums carry a reduced ceiling and a two-bedroom minimum regardless of the building.
Ottawa	Prime	Steady resale market across the National Capital Region. Both first and second charges are routine.
Hamilton and Niagara	Prime	Prime market throughout. Mixed housing stock, so the appraisal does more work than the postal code.
Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge	Prime	Prime market. Student-rental concentration is read through the Rental Program rather than the standard first.
London and southwestern Ontario	Prime	Prime in the city; the surrounding townships fall to Flex on market size.
Barrie, Guelph, Kingston, Windsor	Prime	All above the population floor. Commuter-belt files price on marketability, not on distance from Toronto.
Smaller Ontario centres and rural	Flex	No fixed population floor. Acreage, well and septic, and seasonal access all read through marketability.
Vancouver and the Lower Mainland	Prime	Prime market with a tighter ceiling than Ontario. Enforcement in BC is judicial, which lengthens recovery and is priced in.
Victoria and Vancouver Island	Prime in the centres	Victoria is Prime. Island communities below the floor are Flex, assessed on how long a property would take to sell.
Kelowna and the Okanagan	Prime in the centres	Seasonal demand affects marketability more than it affects value.
Calgary	Prime	Prime market with a tighter ceiling than Ontario. Alberta is a judicial-sale province and restricts recourse to an individual borrower's personal covenant.
Edmonton	Prime	As Calgary. Both cities are active for first and second charges.
Smaller Alberta centres and acreage	Flex	Assessed on marketability. Acreage files need the appraisal to address comparables honestly.

Lendmax lends in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta only. Full lending areas →

Before you apply

What a private lender will ask you for.

A private mortgage is underwritten on the property, so the document list is shorter than a bank's and the questions are different. There is no income verification in any Lendmax program. What matters is the equity, what is already registered against it, and how the term ends.

An appraisal. Current, and ideally from the approved panel. Value drives the ceiling, and marketability drives how the value is read.
A credit report. Not to qualify you on income, but to see what else is outstanding and whether anything is in arrears.
What is on title. Existing charges, liens, tax arrears and judgments. A second charge is priced on what sits ahead of it.
The exit. How the term ends — a sale, a refinance, a return to an institutional lender. This is the single most important answer in a private mortgage file.
Property insurance. In place, with the mortgagee named.
Independent legal advice. Your own lawyer, not the lender's.

A complete file funds faster than a strong one. Where documents are missing the desk will say which, rather than sitting on the submission.

One desk, one address

Send the file. The person who prices it answers it.

Brokers — email the desk Apply for Mortgage Pricing Calculator

Lendmax Inc. is a licensed mortgage administrator, FSRA Licence 13002. Program criteria set out eligibility only and are not an offer of credit. Rates, lender fees and conditions are quoted per file after review of the application, appraisal and credit report, and are subject to change without notice.

Sources and further reading

FSRA — licensed mortgage brokerages, administrators, agents and brokers — Check any lender, brokerage or administrator licence before you deal.
OSFI Guideline B-20 — residential mortgage underwriting — The stress test and underwriting rules that apply to federally regulated lenders, not private ones.
CMHC — Residential Mortgage Industry Report — The share of Canadian mortgage lending done by non-bank and alternative lenders.