The Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR) is “a national online register that can provide information to help protect consumers when they are buying personal property such as cars, boats or artworks”. The PPSR also protects businesses when buying, selling, leasing or hiring out goods, or selling valuable goods on consignment.
It’s a single register that covers a wide range of personal property (except for land, buildings and fixtures), including, according to the PPSR website:
- Motor vehicles, boats and 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
It’s for individuals and businesses that buy, sell, lease or hire, sell on consignment, lend money or give credit. Adding your goods to the register simplifies making an official claim to their ownership in case of dispute.
Why use the PPSR?
If you’ve registered your goods on another site, you’ll need to update it to this one. The PPSR is a national noticeboard that replaces previous registers (such as REVS and the ASIC Register of Company Charges).
The PPSR is a way to strongly protect your risks when dealing with valuable assets. It means that:
- If your goods are registered, you can more easily claim them back if your customers don’t pay
- If you’re buying goods, you can see if they are being used as security against another debt
- If you need a loan, you can more easily use your assets as security
The PPSR is commonly used in the agricultural, arts, construction and mining, financial services, hire and rental, information technology, motor vehicle, retail and wholesale industries.
It might not be worth the risk that you open yourself up to by not registering assets. For example, if your interest in an asset isn’t registered, while someone else’s is, you might lose your rights to it – even if you have a contract or title.
How to get started with the PPSR
The register is optional (it isn’t a legal requirement), but it is worth consideration to make your business more secure.
It incurs a small fee to register an item ($6.00 for up to seven years, $25 for up to 25 years, $115 for an indefinite period) and there’s also a search fee: $2.00 online or $7.00 at a contact centre).
Visit the PPSR website for more information and to register.
This article was originally published by OneAffinitti.
