New Personal Property Securities Register

Fri, Jan 27 2012

New Personal Property Securities Register

The Attorney-General, Nicola Roxon, has announced the new national personal property securities register will open for business on 30 January 2012. Stakeholders, including the major banks, have confirmed they are ready to proceed.

The new national register will help Australian consumers and businesses ensure the property they buy does not have a security interest over it.

The register will also provide additional protection for businesses that lease or supply goods, in the event that a debtor defaults or goes bankrupt. It will also replace more than 70 different Commonwealth, State and Territory acts and registers used to regulate personal property used as security.

The simplification of all these different registers will help make secured financing more accessible and reduce transaction costs, making lenders more willing to accept different kinds of personal property as security for loans.

Advice from the Attorney-General's Department indicates that the migration of over 4.7 million records from existing registers is progressing well. The existing registers transferring their data to the new register include the ASIC Register of Company Charges, the State Register of Encumbered Vehicles and Vehicle Securities Registers, and various other Bills of Sale, stock mortgage and crop lien registers.

Businesses and individuals that hold security interests will have up to two years to register their security.

To view the Attorney-General's media release click here