Despite the uncertainty of COVID-19 many businesses have been able to continue to make ends meet. It is essential that business owners also continue to protect their business’ interests, by registering security interests on the Personal Property Securities Register (‘PPSR’).
What is the PPSR?
The PPSR is an online register that catalogues every security interest in personal property in Australia. It can be used for both registering a new security interest and searching for existing security interests.
The PPSR is governed by the Personal Property Securities Act 2009 (Cth) and the Personal Property Security Regulations 2010 (Cth).
If you need more information on how the PPSR works, see our previous blog: How to use the PPSA in your favour.
How is COVID-19 affecting the PPSR and Security Interests?
As more businesses move to operating and ordering goods online, there has been a shift from ‘cash-in-hand’ orders to orders made ‘on credit’.
This raises the question: if a business that you have provided goods to ‘on credit’ goes into insolvency, how can you claim your goods back during COVID-19?
The government has temporarily increased the minimum requirements for statutory demands from $2,000 to $20,000, and has extended the time frame for responding to a statutory demand from 21 days to 6 months.
However, there have been no changes made to the PPSA legislation or the way that security interests are registered on the PPSR. This means that:
5 Steps you can take to protect your business
To protect your business during these uncertain times (particularly if goods or services are being paid for on credit), you should:
If you have further questions please contact us at frank@franklaw.com.au
This is not legal advice.
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