If you’re looking to buy high-value second-hand goods privately, including cars and machinery, it’s important to search the Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR) before you buy.
Searching
The PPSR is an online noticeboard of security interests in personal property. This includes cars, machinery like tractors, and livestock.
You can do a $2 online PPSR search to find out if personal property has a security interest registered against it. If it does, it may mean the property has money owing on it.
When you search, you’ll get a certificate you can keep as proof of whether or not a security interest was registered at that time. If you don’t do a search and buy property that has a security interest registered over it, you’re at risk of the goods being repossessed even though you’ve paid for them.
There are two main ways to search the PPSR:
- By the serial number (for certain types of property), or
- By the details of the grantor (i.e. the person who has granted the security interest, usually the seller).
Property that can be searched by serial number include cars, tractors and earthmovers. However, machinery such as combine harvesters, as well as heavy duty tools and appliances will need to be searched by the grantor’s details.
Registering
The PPSR isn’t just a searching tool – if you’re a business issuing invoices for payment at a later date, the PPSR can provide valuable protection if your customer cannot pay or goes out of business.
Registration ensures your interest continues to be secured even if their goods are sold on, mixed or installed onto other goods or transformed by manufacturing or other processes. So regardless of the goods being manufactured – if those goods are fixed or installed into to other goods – your interest continues and so do your priority rights of enforcement over any later dealings with the assembled item.
Registrations start from just $6 and can cover your business for up to 7 years.
More information
More information about the value of the PPSR for agribusinesses, including relevant case studies and further information about how to register, is available here: https://www.ppsr.gov.au/education-hub/ppsr-and-your-business/farming-and-agriculture
Authorised by the Australian Government, Canberra