The PPSR is a national online noticeboard that lets you see if someone is claiming an interest against goods or assets, and also lets you register your interest in goods or assets.
The main reasons to use the PPSR are to:
- find out if the goods you are buying have money owing on them.
- protect your goods in case your customer goes broke.
A security interest is an interest in personal property that secures payment of a debt or other obligation.
Personal property is any property that is not land, building or fixtures. Examples of personal property include:
- Motor vehicles, boats or aircraft
- Crops, cattle and other livestock
- Stock in trade, artworks and equipment
- Other goods, new or second-hand, whether owned by businesses or individuals
- Intangible property, such as patents, copyright, commercial (not government-issued) licences, debts and bank accounts
- Financial property such as shares, cash or cheques.
For individuals
It is important that you do a PPSR check before you purchase personal property to check if it is being used as security for a debt or other obligation. If it does have a security interest attached to it, then there is a risk that the person with the security interest will repossess the property. The register won’t tell you how big the debt or obligation is, but it lets you know it exists so you can find out more before you make a decision.
For example, if you buy or lease a car that has a debt registered on the PPSR, if the seller stops making payments, the finance company listed on the PPSR can take the car away from you. If you search the PPSR the day, or day before you buy your car, you can ensure it is:
- free from debt
- safe from repossession
- not reported written off
- not reported stolen.
For businesses
The register is also very important for businesses who are selling, hiring or leasing goods, particularly in the building & construction, agriculture & farming, and automotive services industries.
If you’re a business, you need to register your interest in goods or assets in order to secure the debt or obligation owing to you. Registration protects your interest in the goods or assets if your customer defaults on payments or goes broke. Without a registration, if your customer goes broke before they have paid you, the goods may be sold to pay secured creditors first. In the case of insolvency, if you’ve failed to register your interest on the PPSR, you will be an unsecured creditor and may recover little or nothing of what you are owed. Registering on the PPSR gives you the best chance of being a high priority creditor.
What will a search show you?
When you do a PPSR search, you will get one of two results:
- No security interest
- One or more existing registrations
If there are existing registrations, you will see details of the secured parties and the dates that they registered their interest in the property. You can also generate a PPSR certificate which can be used as evidence in case of a dispute.
