Could your assets be sold to pay off your CUSTOMERS DEBT?!

More and more I am meeting clients who are not aware of the PPSR and what they were/are required to do.

The Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR) is the register enacted with the introduction of the Personal Property Securities Act 2009 on which security interests in personal property may be registered. The changes came into play on the 30th January 2012. In general it is a system for the creation, propriety and enforcement of security interests in personal property, which is generally all property other than land, fixtures and certain statutory interests.

Ignoring this legislation could have serious impacts on your business if your customer was to go into administration.

The first case in relation to this legislation has been heard (Maiden Civil (P & E) Pty Ltd (27 June 2013)) where by in simple terms the party leasing the Excavators (Maiden Civil) went into administration. The Administrators were able to repossess the excavators (owned by QES) and sell to pay off debts of Maiden as there was no documentation of the lease registered on the PPSR.

In summary even if you own the Asset it may able to be seized and sold by administrators of your customer.

As the transitional period has ended it is important that you look into what areas of your business may be affected. If you own assets (other than land) that you Lease to another party (even a related party) you need to act today if you have not already!!!