Personal Property Security (PPS) reform is changing the law and practice for secured financing involving personal property. PPS reform will bring the different Australian Commonwealth, State and Territory laws and registers regarding personal property security interests under one national system.

From May 2011 there will be one national PPS law and one national PPS Register.

Personal property is any form of property other than land, buildings or fixtures which form a part of that land. It can include tangibles such as cars, art, machinery and crops; as well as intangibles such as intellectual property and contract rights.

A personal property security is when a secured party takes an interest in personal property as security for a loan or other obligation, or enters into a transaction that involves the supply of secured finance. 

An example is when a person borrows money from a bank and offers it as collateral or security for the loan. The bank’s interest over the collateral is a personal property security. 

Are you thinking about buying personal property such as a car or boat? Are you thinking about investing in a business?

Who is a Buyer?

A buyer is anyone who has, or is contemplating, buying or investing in some form of personal property, such as a car, aeroplane, intellectual property, crops and livestock.

Why should buyers use the Personal Property Securities Register?

Buyers need to make sure that the personal property they are buying does not have a security interest over it. For example, if you buy a car that still has money owing on it, the car could be repossessed by the person who lent money against it. 

Buyers will be able to search the Personal Property Securities (PPS) Register to see if there are any security interests over personal property they want to buy.

Searching the Personal Property Securities Register

People who want to search the Register can either create an account or search as a casual user. A casual user will use the register on a pay-as-you-go capacity. Buyers can search the register using different search criteria, including:

• grantor details; or
• the serial number of certain types of property.

Consumer motor vehicles will be searchable by serial number.

For more information see the Personal Property Securities Register

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