Real Estate implications from the new Personal Properties Securities Register

Currently, Australia has different laws and registers in each State and Territory for registering security over most types of personal property. The Personal Property Securities (PPS) reform, which is likely to commence early in 2012, brings together the different Commonwealth, State and Territory laws and registers under one national system and introduces the online PPS Register.

Personal property is any form of property other than land or buildings and fixtures which form part of that land. It can include tangibles such cars, boats, machinery, crops - as well as intangibles such as shares, intellectual property and contract rights. Unexpectedly, the PPS regime has implications on real estate – even though the PPS regime is only intended to relate to personal property.