Personal Property Securities Act

The Personal Property Securities Act  2009 (PPSA) has rewritten the way businesses need to record their interest in personal property in many common transactions. That generally includes all property other than land, fixtures and a handful of statutory rights.

Financial assets, goods and equipment, intellectual property and other property now need to be registered on the Personal Properties Security Register (PPSR). If they’re not you may lose ownership of them in an insolvency to a liquidator, administrator or bank receiver.

By making this change, the PPSA has redefined the legal implications of leases and hires, altered the law of retention of title and altered the pecking order when it comes to paying creditors. And that has profound implications for businesses involved in lending, hiring and leasing, as well as anyone providing any goods or services on credit or entering into any other agreement which functions as a security.

If you’re in this boat, it’s vital that you register your interests properly. It’s also important that you understand the broader implications of how the PPSR applies to the way you do business. That’s why our PPSA team does what it can to let you know exactly where you stand and how to both protect and enforce your rights.

We can:

• Help you register your property interests on the PPSR so that they’re protected.

• Advise you on your rights under the PPSA and help you develop a strategy for enforcing them.

• Review your current credit arrangements and help you modify them so that they better protect your interests.

• Draft contracts or clauses that take account of the PPSA so that you stay protected.

• Represent you in any dispute involving the PPSA.

• Provide training so that your business is up-to-date and across the law in this important area.