What is the PPSA re-registration deadline after buying financed equipment?

There is no single re-registration deadline that applies across Canada. Each province’s personal property security statute sets its own rules, and the deadline belongs to the lender, not to you. Ontario’s Act shows the problem the rule solves: when a debtor transfers financed equipment to someone else, the lender’s registration under the old owner’s name keeps its security interest perfected in that equipment only for a limited time.

What Ontario’s Act says

Under section 48, if the lender consented in advance to the transfer, its security interest in the transferred equipment becomes unperfected after a stated number of days unless it registers a financing change statement in that time. If it did not consent, the Act gives a different period that runs from the later of two events, one being the day the lender learns the information it needs to register. An interest that has become unperfected can be perfected again by registering during the rest of the original registration period.

Why a buyer should care

An unperfected security interest is subordinate to some other interests and is not effective against a trustee in bankruptcy, so losing perfection changes who ranks where. It does not mean the equipment is free of the loan. The Act says that where a dealing with the collateral gives rise to proceeds, the security interest continues in the collateral unless the lender expressly or impliedly authorized the dealing free of the security interest, so do not assume lost perfection has cleared anything.

Asset deals, share deals and next steps

In a share purchase the company still owns its equipment, so nothing is generally transferred and section 48 is not triggered. In an asset purchase the equipment moves to a new owner, so confirm in writing whether the lender consented, who will register the change and by when. After closing, search the registry under the new owner’s name. Ontario uses Access Now, and the Alberta and British Columbia government pages show other provinces run their own registries.