The new Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR) opened for business on Mon 30.1.2012. The PPSR replaces the current maze of Commonwealth, State and Territory registers that regulate personal property used as security.
The PPSR enables secured parties (eg financiers and other lenders) to register their security interests in personal property (ie any form of property other than land). Accordingly, secured parties can protect their security interest by registration. Perfection by registration allows a secured party to define the priority status of the security interest and ensure the security interest survives the bankruptcy or insolvency of the grantor.
Ordinarily, a security interest in personal property will survive a sale of that property. The PPSR allows buyers of personal property to protect their interest by searching the Register for any existing security interests. This effectively extinguishes the security interest at the time of the transaction, and the buyer has good title to the property without any encumbrances. Further details are available on the PPSR Website – http://www.ppsr.gov.au.
[LTN 18, 30/1]