New register to help farmers

BUYER CONFIDENCE: Farmers will soon be able to access a new national register when buying used machinery.

© iStockphoto.com/Виталий Кривошеев

FARMERS across NSW will be able to check if secondhand machinery they are interested in buying is being used to secure a loan now.

David Aitken, from Slater and Gordon's Regional and Rural Practice, said the Federal Government's new national register for personal property securities would let farmers and others check that any secondhand machinery, tools, vehicles and other equipment they were interested in buying were not being used as collateral to secure a loan.

"This is a concern for many farmers who buy secondhand machinery and then find it isn't fully owned by the vendor because it has been used to get a loan from a bank," Mr Aitken said.

"As part of the new register, farm machinery and other property will be listed so farmers can check to see if it is encumbered in much the same as purchasers buying a used car are able to do."

Mr Aitken congratulated the new Federal Attorney-General, Nicola Roxon, on the initiative saying it would go a long way to protecting farmers against having the machinery repossessed by a bank or some other lender who was owed money by the previous owner.

"It will also cut the time and cost needed to search across the many current state and territory registers to ensure money isn't owed on the machinery or that it isn't being used to secure a loan."