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What is a secured party group?
A secured party group (or SPG) is different to your PPSR account, and you’ll need to create both an account and a SPG before registering a security interest.
A secured party group contains the details of the person or organisation who has an interest in the property - such as yourself or your organisation.
These details include the secured party's email and postal address for service so they can be contacted about any of their PPSR registrations.
SPGs can include one or several secured parties and they can be a mix of individuals and organisations.
For example, if you, your partner and your family's company all have a joint security interest in a motor vehicle you may create one SPG containing the details of all three secured parties.
You need an SPG to make a registration on the PPSR
When you go to create a PPSR registration, we'll ask for an SPG number before you can complete the registration. If you don’t already have one, you can create an one at this point.
If you’ve made a registration before and you are making a new registration for the same secured party, you probably have an SPG already. If you need help finding your SPG details or can't remember your access code see Your secured party group numbers and access codes.
Your secured party group number and access code
When you create your SPG, you'll receive two different numbers:
- an SPG number and
- an access code.
Keep these numbers somewhere safe as you'll need them to make changes to your registrations. It's also important to note that anyone who has access to these numbers can amend and discharge your registrations.
Your SPG number and access code aren’t the same as your PPSR account username and password.
How to create a secured party group
You can create an SPG that includes either:
- just yourself or your organisation
- more than one person or organisations.
Once you’ve set up an SPG, you can’t change the secured parties included in it.
When you create a secured party group, there are rules about how to identify the parties. Secured parties can be recorded as an organisation or individual.
Secured parties that should be registered using their organisation identifier include: companies, bodies corporate, a partner in a partnership with an ABN, bodies politic and a trustee of a trust with an ABN.
Secured parties that should be registered using their individual name include: a person, sole traders with an ABN, partners in a partnership without an ABN and trustees of a trust without an ABN.
Organisation secured party
For organisation secured parties, you will need to enter their details using the appropriate organisation identifier.
Most commonly, the organisation identifier you will use will be the organisation's ACN. However, there is an order to follow when choosing the correct organisation identifier.
When you create a secured party group, the PPSR will ask questions which will help you select the correct organisation identifier to. The identifier the organisation has that is highest in the order is the one you need to use to identify the secured party. The order is as follows:
- ARSN (Australian Registered Scheme Number) or ARFN (Australian Registered Fund Number)
- ACN (Australian Company Number)
- ARBN (Australian Registered Body Number
- ABN (Australian Business Number)
- Organisation name
Depending on the organisation identifier you used, the PPSR will verify it and show the name of the organisation. Check that the name is correct before you continue with the SPG creation.
Individual secured party
For individual secured parties, you'll need to enter the following identifying details:
- given names and
- family name.
Most commonly, these details will come from their current Australian driver's licence. However, the form of identification you get these details from is important.
There is an order to follow when choosing the type of document you get identity details from. The document has that is highest in the order is the one you need to use to identify the secured party. The order is as follows:
- Information you have about the individual because of the operation of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006
- Current Australian driver’s licence
- Australian proof of age card
- Australian passport
- Australian visa
- Passport from the country they usually live in
- Birth certificate.
To create an SPG, log into your PPSR account, then:
- Go to the Secured party groups tab and then Create secured party group.
- Follow the steps to add your:
- Secured party details - you can have multiple secured parties within one SPG
- Address for service - this is important as it's where people can contact you about the SPGs registrations. Make sure you include an email address you have access to, as you'll need to verify this email before you can use your SPG.
- Preferences - you can set this SPG to be your default or a favourite for your account.
- Review and save your group.
- You will then see a confirmation screen with your unique SPG number.
- We'll send an email to your address for service with:
- your unique SPG access code
- your SPG number
- A link to activate your secured party group - Click the link in the email. This will take you to an Activate secured party group confirmation page. If you don't activate your SPG, you won't be able to create PPSR registrations using this group.
Keep your SPG number and access code somewhere safe as you'll need them to make changes to your registration or SPG in the future.
Now you've created your SPG, you can make a PPSR registration.
What's the difference between an account and a secured party group?
An account lets you manage all of your PPSR access and usage such as creating users, making registrations, and logging your search history.
You can use your account to create SPGs. These contains details of secured parties (the person who claims to have the interest registered on the PPSR). Account holders can create multiple SPGs can contain one or more secured parties. Each SPG has a unique number so account holders can easily identify them and manage the registrations made using their details.
The account holder and SPG are often the same person or from the same organisation, although they don't have to be. For example a lawyer could have a PPSR account they use to create registrations on behalf of their clients (whose details would be contained in different SPGs).
How to change a secured party group
Once you’ve set up an SPG, you can’t change who it covers. If you need to change the secured parties in a registration, you'll need to create a new SPG and transfer your registration from your old SPG to the new one. You can have multiple SPGs depending on you or your organisations needs.
For information about how to update your SPG details, such as your address for service, contact details and preferences see Using your secured party groups.