The Federal Court in the recent decision of Carson, in the
matter of Hastie Group Limited (No. 3) gave a timely reminder to
landlords that merely registering a security interest on the
Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR) may
not be enough to adequately protect the interests of a
landlord.
Whilst the case was not specifically concerned with land leases
but leases of plant and equipment, the warning which emanates from
the decision needs to be carefully noted by landlords.
In the matter, administrators appointed to the company (the
subject of the secured interests) requested information from the
charge holders to enable the administrators to adequately identify
the plant and equipment subject to the charges. The administrators
were seeking to sell plant and equipment to raise funds and it was
difficult to determine what plant and equipment each of the
security interests related to because many of the registrations
used general wording and many other
