Accounting, Taxation, Audit, Self Managed Super Funds, Goodwin Chivas & Co, Baulkham Hills, NSW, Australia
Request Appointment
Newsletter Subscription
Client Portal
May 2012 Newsletter-Feature: Safeguarding your assets post January 2012
Safeguarding your assets post 30 January 2012

Safeguarding your assets post 30 January 2012

On 30 January 2012 a national scheme commenced concerning the registration of security interests over most types of personal property. 

This scheme is known as the PPSR and was established under the Personal Property Securities Act 2009. PPSR stands for Personal Property Securities Register. The PPSR is a single national online register that replaces existing state and Commonwealth registers.

For example the following registers have been transferred across to the new PPSR and closed down:


Commonwealth


  • Australian Register of Ships
  • ASIC - Register of Company Charges (including provisional charges)
  • Fisheries Register


New South Wales


  • Register of Encumbered Vehicles (REVS NSW)
  • Security Interest of Goods Register
  • Registers of charges for co-operatives and co-operative housing societies


The PPS Register will allow lenders and businesses to register their security interests such that secured parties, buyers and other interested parties can search the Register to find out if a security interest is registered over the personal property. Where in the past you may have called REV's to determine if a car was free from debt when acquiring it, you will now be able to search the PPS Register.


What is personal property?
Personal property is any property other than land and buildings. It includes tangibles such as goods and livestock, and intangibles such as licenses and accounts receivable.

How can I search the PPS Register?
The register is available at www.ppsr.gov.au. Users will be able to search the Register by entering their search criteria on the website.

What are the implications for business?
When legislation was introduced it intended to streamline Commonwealth and State regulations dealing with personal property such that the legal owner of property could be identified and the legal interest of lenders against that property could be safeguarded. This becomes critical when companies are placed into administration or liquidation and a liquidator is looking to realise the assets of the insolvent business in order to conduct their affairs.


To illustrate let's look at the following example:
You own a scaffolding business that leases equipment to various property developers. One of your lessees is experiencing financial hardship and is placed into administration. Once appointed the administrator conducts a stocktake of the assets owned by the property developer and notes scaffolding on one of the development sites owned by the developer as assets of the developer. But for a registered interest in the property being identified on the PPSR the administrator could sell the scaffolding for the benefit of creditors of the property developer and your claim against the developer would be like that of an unsecured creditor. Registration of this asset on the on the PPSR would have prevented this situation.


What to do from here?
If you are a business that leases assets to either related or un-related clients it is recommended that these interests be registered on the PPSR. For more information in registering an interest you can contact one of our staff at Goodwin Chivas & Co, alternatively you can visit the PPSR website for more information.


For further information about how these rules apply to you, please contact us.

Share by: