- 22.1 Registration
- 22.2 20 business day registration window – Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) section 588FL
- 22.3 Financing statements
- 22.4 The PPS Register is a “red flag” only – there is no “title by registration”
- 22.5 Requesting copies of security agreements
- 22.6 Financing change statements
- 22.7 Removal of pre-registrations where no security interest was ultimately taken
- 22.8 Registration by class of collateral
- 22.9 Registration against proceeds
- 22.10 Periods of registration – seven (7) years, 25 years or an indefinite period
- 22.11 Registration is only effective from the time the register shows the interest – so “search, register, search”
- 22.12 Verification statements
- 22.13 Search results - establishes registration time and priority time
- 22.14 Registration of PMSIs
- 22.15 Pre-registration before security interests attach
- 22.16 Inventory PMSIs must be pre-registered
- 22.17 "Silent equipment PMSI" risk
- 22.18 Amendment demands and amendment notices – cleaning up a cluttered register
- 22.19 Defective registrations
- 22.20 Other defects in registrations – PMSIs and “seriously misleading” registrations
- 22.21 Consequences of defective registrations
- 22.22 Registration, searches and privacy
- 22.23 Prescribed information, and prohibited registrations – impounded motor vehicles, proceeds of crime, freezing orders
- 22.24 Registration details for trusts
- 22.25 Applications for extension of time
Only certain interested parties can request a copy of security agreements directly from the secured party. Interested parties include the grantor, other secured parties who hold a security interest over the same collateral, the auditor of the grantor, and execution creditors with interests in collateral1. Security agreements are not available to the world at large as many currently are, for example, from the ASIC company charges register.
Secured parties must provide a copy of their security agreements upon request from an interested party within 20 business days of receiving the request2. However, if the grantor and the secured party have agreed in the security agreement that it shall be confidential, then a secured party is not obliged to respond to a request for a copy of the security agreement from an interested party unless either:
(a) the debtor authorises the disclosure3. The debtor can consent to a secured party providing a copy of the security agreement by waiving a confidentiality obligation;
(b) the debtor (who may also be the grantor) is in default at the time the request is received; or
(c) the request is made by the auditor of the grantor4.
Interested parties can also request written statements of the secured moneys owing under the security interests held by other secured parties, again unless there are confidentiality restrictions in security agreements which would prohibit the provision of this information5.
A secured party is bound by the security agreement provided in response to a request for a copy of a security agreement. Put another way, a secured party is prevented from denying that the security agreement provided is correct6. This allows recipients to rely on the information provided. Secured parties who provide outdated or incorrect copies of security agreements where, for example, the agreements have been amended since grant, will be prevented from denying the accuracy of the agreements they provide. If a secured party realises they have provided incorrect or inaccurate security agreements they should immediately contact the recipient and correct the error. The recipient can, however, rely on the security agreements actually provided, presumably until the error is corrected7.
