Personal Property Securities Reform
Personal Property Securities
Personal property is any form of property other than land or buildings and fixtures which are legally treated as forming part of land. Personal property can include tangibles (eg cars, boats, machinery, crops) and intangibles (eg shares, intellectual property, receivables and contract rights).
If an individual or business wants to borrow money they will often find it easier and may obtain a lower rate of interest if they offer a piece of property as security. Personal property that might be offered as security for a loan includes cars, or the trading stock and equipment of a business.
Why Reform Personal Property Securities?
In Australia today, there are significant limitations on the use of personal property as security due to complexities and gaps in the arrangements for registering security interests. The rules for registering an interest and whether an interest can be registered at all vary widely. The Commonwealth, States and Territories all have their own personal property schemes with separate registers and legislation relating to those registers. The current requirements for registering a security interest in personal property vary depending on the type of personal property, where it is located and whether the property belongs to an individual or a corporation.
The aim of Personal Property Security Reform is to improve the ability of individuals and businesses, particularly small-to-medium size businesses, to employ all their property in raising capital. Personal property securities reform has been successfully implemented in the United States, Canada and New Zealand, where the reforms have been widely accepted, as an improvement on previous arrangements.
Individuals or businesses wanting to borrow money will tend to obtain a lower rate if they offer a piece of property as security. In Australia there have been significant limits on the use of personal property as security for a loan.
Currently most of the States, Territories and the Commonwealth Government maintain registers for some Personal Property Securities. The introduction of the Personal Property Securities Register will bring all of this information together in the one, definitive register of personal property securities.
Contact us
Personal Property Securities Branch
Australian Government
Attorney-General’s Department
Robert Garran Offices
National Circuit
BARTON ACT 2600
Assistant Secretary: Richard Glenn
Telephone: (02) 6250 6701
Email: pps@ag.gov.au
