If you are a potential buyer of personal property or potential lender on the security of personal property you need to search the Personal Property Securities Register to establish whether the personal property is subject to an existing security interest.

Some searches (eg consumer property which must be described by serial number) can only be conducted by using the relevant serial number (eg the VIN for motor vehicles) and not by the name of the person selling the goods or borrowing. It is critical that the correct serial number is entered as a search term.

If the goods are commercial property then you need to search against the grantor’s name as well as the serial number if there is one.

Sometimes multiple searches are required to ensure all registrations are discovered.

For a trust or partnership you may need to search against an ABN as well as multiple individual names where relevant.

For a company you will need to search its ACN (and the ABN for the time being).

If the party has changed their name you may need to search their former name as well.

Searches must be exact. As the Register contains millions of security interests wildcard searches are not allowed.

Further enquiries
Does a negative search mean there are no security interests over the business or property you are interested in? No. As the transitional period does not end until 29 January 2014 there may be transitional pre-30 January 2012 security interests not yet on the Register (eg retention of title agreements or leases). Is the person you are dealing with likely to have granted an interest of this type? If so you will need to make further enquiries.

You will also need to make further enquiries if a search reveals a security interest but there are insufficient details to identify the affected property.