The Australian Government has been planning for some time now to commence personal property securities reform and has begun part one of that process by introducing the Personal Property Securities Act 2009 (Cth).
Part two involves the implementation of a national Personal Property Security Register, and this is due to commence in October 2011.
Personal property is any property other than land, buildings, or fixtures, that form part of that land. Personal property can be items such as cars, machinery, crops, or stock – it can also include intellectual property, invoices that have yet to be paid, or rights under a contract.
Personal Property Security is where a party secures an interest in personal property as a security in matters such as the provision of finance or the provision of credit.
Every Australian State currently has a number of registers dealing with personal property securities. For example, New South Wales has the following registers:
- Register of Encumbered Vehicles (REVS NSW)
- Security Interest of Goods Register
- Register of Co-operative Charges
The numerous amounts of registers currently operating throughout the country is why the Australian Government has reformed the system to steamline how Personal Property Securities are registered. The National Personal Property Security Register will also be on-line and will comprise of the combination of existing registers throughout the country. As expected, this is a massive effort.
More details about the new Personal Property Security Register may be found at http://www.ppsr.gov.au/www/ppsr/ppsr.nsf/Page/About_PPS.
What this will mean is that it will protentially be much easier for you to record an interest in personal property that your client has offered up to you as security in exchange for your services.
More updates to follow once the register has been implemented.