PPSA registration

Signing a general security agreement gives a lender rights against its own borrower, but it does not, by itself, protect that lender against other creditors or warn a future buyer that the claim exists. Registration is the step that does both — it is what turns a private contract into a public fact anyone can search.

What a search actually shows

A PPSA search against a company or its serial-numbered assets returns every registered financing statement — the lender’s name, what collateral is described, and the registration date, which generally determines priority among competing secured creditors. It does not show whether the underlying debt has actually been repaid, only that a registration exists and has not yet been discharged.

Why it matters more on an asset purchase

• A buyer acquiring specific assets wants confirmation that any registration against them will be discharged at or before closing
• An undischarged registration can follow the collateral into the buyer’s hands even after the purchase price has been paid
• Equipment financed under a lease or conditional sale often shows up as its own registration, separate from a lender’s general filing
• A clean search at the letter-of-intent stage does not guarantee a clean search at closing, so a second search near closing is standard practice

Quebec is different

The PPSA framework, and the term itself, applies in every Canadian province except Quebec, which governs security over movable property through the Civil Code of Québec and publishes registrations through the Register of Personal and Movable Real Rights (RDPRM) instead of a PPSA registry. The underlying idea — public notice of a creditor’s claim — is similar, but the statute, the terminology and the registry are not interchangeable.