Personal Property Securities Amendment (Deregulatory Measures) Act 2015

The Personal Property Securities Amendment (Deregulatory Measures) Act 2015 is a Commonwealth amending Act. Its stated purpose is to amend the Personal Property Securities Act 2009, and for related purposes. That means it does not operate as a separate code. Businesses need to read it together with the PPSA framework that it changes.

For practical business use, this matters because many PPSA problems do not start with the title of an Act. They start when a business leases goods, hires out equipment, bails goods, sells on retention of title terms, finances assets, or tries to recover property after a customer default or insolvency. This Act changed some of the underlying PPSA rules that sit behind those activities.

The legislation text also makes clear that the Act contains commencement rules and a Schedule of amendments. It then inserts a new Schedule 1 into the PPSA for application, saving and transitional provisions. That is important because transitional rules often decide whether an older contract is assessed under the old law or the amended law.

This Act is most relevant to businesses that create, hold, register, search or rely on interests in personal property under the PPSA system. The official text specifically points to amendments that affect leases and bailments of goods, and to transitional treatment connected with those arrangements. It also refers to amendments relating to serial numbered goods.

In practice, that means the Act can matter to more than banks and specialist financiers. It can affect equipment hire businesses, vehicle and plant operators, suppliers using retention of title terms, businesses that lend or refinance against goods, and buyers or advisers who search the PPSR before acquiring assets.

Businesses are usually less affected if they do not deal with personal property security arrangements, do not lease or bail goods, and do not rely on PPSR registrations or searches. Even then, a business buying second-hand assets may still need to understand whether an older arrangement could be governed by transitional treatment.

The legislation text identifies the specific PPSA changes made by Schedule 1. Those changes are targeted rather than broad. Item 1 inserted section 2A into the PPSA so that Schedule 1 has effect. Item 2 added a note at the end of section 3 stating that Schedule 1 contains application, saving and transitional provisions relating to amendments of the Act.

Item 3 amended paragraph 13(1)(d) by omitting the words “year); or” and substituting “year).” Item 4 repealed paragraph 13(1)(e). Item 5 repealed subparagraph 268(1)(a)(ii). Item 6 repealed the example under subsection 268(1). Item 7 added a new Schedule 1 to the PPSA containing transitional provisions.

The legislation text does not reproduce the full surrounding PPSA provisions, so this page should not overstate the detailed legal effect of each textual change beyond what the Act itself shows. What can safely be said is that Parliament removed some text from section 13 and section 268, removed an example under subsection 268(1), and then inserted a transitional rule preserving the previous position for certain pre-commencement leases and bailments of goods.

The clearest practical rule in the Act is in the new Schedule 1, Part 1, clause 2. It is headed application of amendments relating to serial numbered goods. It says that despite the amendments made by items 4 and 5 of Schedule 1 to the amending Act, the PPSA continues to apply, in relation to leases and bailments of goods entered into before the commencement of those items, as if those amendments had not been made.

In plain language, this means older leases and bailments of goods are carved out from the immediate effect of items 4 and 5. If the arrangement was entered into before those items commenced, the old PPSA position continues to apply to that arrangement for those amendments. If the arrangement was entered into after commencement, the amended PPSA position is the starting point.

For business owners, the practical question is simple: when was the lease or bailment entered into? That date can change which rule set applies. This is why 1 October 2015 matters so much. Schedule 1 commenced on that date, making it the practical dividing line for reviewing older and newer files.

The transitional provision is expressly described as relating to amendments about serial numbered goods. The Act also repeals text in section 13 and section 268 of the PPSA, but the extract does not provide the full surrounding wording of those provisions. Because of that, businesses should be careful not to assume they understand the full current treatment of serial-numbered goods from the amending Act alone.

What the Act does show is enough to trigger a practical review. If your business deals with vehicles, plant, machinery or other goods that your PPSR process treats as serial-numbered, you should check whether your registration practices, asset descriptions and internal guidance were built around wording or examples that were removed in 2015.

This is especially important where staff rely on inherited templates, old training notes, or long-standing PPSR habits. A process that was sensible before 1 October 2015 may need to be checked against the current consolidated PPSA before you rely on it in a dispute, sale, refinance or insolvency scenario.

Most businesses do not review PPSA amendments in the abstract. They encounter them at operational trigger points. This Act becomes relevant when a business starts a new lease, renews an older hire arrangement, registers an interest on the PPSR, buys second-hand assets, or tries to recover goods after a customer default.

The transitional rule makes older files particularly important. A business with contracts spanning both sides of 1 October 2015 may need to separate those files and assess them differently. That can affect registration assumptions, internal risk assessments and the advice given to management during a dispute.

Another trigger point is insolvency. If a customer collapses and the business wants to recover leased or bailed goods, the contract date, the goods involved, and the registration history can all become commercially significant very quickly.

This amending Act does not set out a fresh standalone list of business obligations. Instead, it changes the PPSA framework and inserts a transitional rule. The practical obligation for businesses is to make sure their PPSA compliance approach reflects the law as amended and that older contracts are checked for transitional treatment.

That means reviewing contract dates, identifying whether arrangements are leases or bailments of goods, checking whether goods are treated as serial-numbered in your PPSR process, and making sure internal templates do not still rely on repealed wording or examples. Businesses should also keep clear records so they can show when an arrangement was entered into and what goods it covered.

Where priority, enforcement or insolvency recovery is at stake, businesses should not rely on a high-level summary alone. They should check the current consolidated PPSA and the exact contract and registration history before acting.

A practical review should start with documents, not assumptions. Gather your lease agreements, hire contracts, bailment terms, retention of title terms, asset schedules, PPSR registration records and any internal guidance used by staff. Then sort those materials by date, especially around the 1 October 2015 commencement line.

Businesses should also look at conduct, not just paperwork. For example, if staff routinely register interests in a certain way because that is how the business has always done it, that practice should be checked against the current PPSA. The same applies if the business relies on old examples or training notes that may no longer reflect the law after the 2015 amendments.

Where a dispute is already on foot, preserve the signed contract, any amendments or renewals, the asset identification details, and the PPSR search and registration history. Those records are often central to working out whether the old or amended position applies.

An equipment hire business has contracts signed in 2014, 2015 and 2016. It should not assume one PPSA rule applies across all files. The contracts entered into before 1 October 2015 may fall within the transitional rule if they are leases or bailments of goods covered by items 4 and 5.

A supplier sells goods on credit and uses retention of title terms. Even though the amending Act does not specifically explain every retention of title consequence, the supplier should still check whether its PPSR registration practices and asset descriptions were built around pre-2015 assumptions about serial-numbered goods or repealed examples.

A buyer acquires second-hand plant from another business. The buyer should still search the PPSR and should be cautious if the asset history includes older leases or bailments. Transitional treatment may affect how earlier arrangements are analysed.

A business faces customer insolvency and wants to recover goods. It should immediately gather the signed contract, any variation documents, the asset list, serial details if relevant, and the PPSR records, then assess whether the arrangement was entered into before or after 1 October 2015.

The Act received Royal Assent on 25 June 2015. Under the commencement table, sections 1 to 3 and anything not otherwise covered commenced on that day. Schedule 1 commenced on 1 October 2015.

For most businesses, 1 October 2015 is the date that matters most because Schedule 1 contains the substantive amendments and the transitional rule. If you are reviewing older leases or bailments of goods, that date is the practical dividing line for deciding whether the old or amended position may apply.

The Act is recorded as in force. Even so, businesses should check the current consolidated PPSA and any later amendments before relying on this page for a live transaction or dispute.

Before relying on this page, confirm that you are looking at the current consolidated Personal Property Securities Act 2009, not just the 2015 amending Act. Then check whether your arrangement is in fact a lease or bailment of goods, when it was entered into, whether the goods are treated as serial-numbered in your PPSR process, and whether there have been later amendments, renewals or replacements of the contract.

If your business is about to enforce rights, recover goods, or respond to insolvency, do not rely on a general summary alone. The exact contract wording, the date the arrangement was entered into, and the registration history can all affect the outcome.