The Personal Property Securities (PPS) reform brings together over 70 different Commonwealth, State and Territory laws and registers under one national system. It introduces the Personal Property Securities Act 2009 and an online PPS Register. The planned date for registration commencement time is 31 October 2011. (only 2 years after the Act!!)
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. A personal property security is when a secured party takes an interest in personal property as security for a loan or other obligation, or enters into a transaction that involves the supply of secured finance.
Using the current system to register a security interest in personal property can be costly depending on the type of personal property. There is overlap between existing registration laws. Whether a personal property security can; or needs to be; or may be registered, depends on the jurisdiction; the type of interest; the class of debtor; the type of property; the location of the property; and the kind of transaction. Some personal property security transactions have more than one registration requirement in the same jurisdiction, or need to be registered in more than one jurisdiction.
In Australia there have been significant limitations on the use of personal property as security due to difficulties and gaps in registering security interests. The rules for registering are different for Commonwealth, each state and territory because they each have their own personal property schemes with separate registers and laws.
Introducing a national Personal Property Securities Register will bring all of this information together into one national system. The aim of the PPS reform is to improve the ability of individuals and businesses, particularly small-to-medium size businesses, to use all their property in raising capital. Personal property securities reform has apparently been successful in the United States, Canada and New Zealand.
The PPS Register will allow lenders and businesses to register their security interests. Secured parties, buyers and other interested parties can search the PPS Register to find out if a security interest is registered over the personal property.
De-Facto Relationship or not?
Recently in the Family Court of Australia a women attempted to claim a de facto relationship existed with a married family man with whom she had had a secret sexual relationship with for 17 years, apparently often declaring their love and affection for each other!! The judge did not agree that a de facto relationship existed mainly because “the key to the de facto relationship is that the parties has so merged their lives that they were, for all practical purposes, they were living together as a couple on a genuine domestic basis”.
Just saying I really love you doesn’t count!!!