How to Search for Liens and Debts Against a British Columbia Business

If you are buying a business, you want to know whether the seller owes money that could follow the business or its assets. Lenders, suppliers and governments often leave a public record, and a few searches can bring much of it to light.

This article explains which BC searches matter, how to order them and what the results mean. It is general information, and a lawyer can confirm which searches suit your deal.

This article covers the law of British Columbia.

What the Personal Property Registry shows

The BC Personal Property Registry (PPR) records security agreements under the Personal Property Security Act, commercial liens under the Commercial Liens Act, and buyers' interests in goods left with the seller under the Sale of Goods Act. For a business, this is where a bank loan secured against equipment, inventory or receivables usually appears.

A person may request a name search, a serial-number search, a registration-number search or copies of registered documents. Registration perfects a security interest and can be made before the security agreement is signed, so a search can show a lender's claim that is not yet fully in use.

How to order a PPR search and what it costs

You can search in person at a Service BC location, through a third-party service provider who may charge extra, or by mailing BC Registry Services the search type and criteria with a $10 cheque or money order payable to the Minister of Finance, with results returned by mail only. Direct online access is limited to professionals with a premium account and is not available to the general public, so a buyer usually searches through Service BC, a mailed request, or a lawyer or search agent.

For reference, the government lists a $10 fee for a government-staff PPR search and $15 for a combined PPR and Manufactured Home search. Fees change from time to time, so confirm the current amount before you pay.

Reading the results

• Check the term. Registrations run for 1 to 25 years at $5 per year, or for an infinite term at $500, so an old registration may still be live.
• Check the collateral description. Priority between perfected security interests in the same collateral is generally decided by order of registration, possession or perfection, so a prior lender can rank ahead of you.
• Look for recent equipment financing. A purchase money security interest can have priority over other interests and may be perfected within 15 days after the debtor obtains possession.
• Do not assume inventory customers' protection helps you. A buyer of goods in the ordinary course of business takes free of a security interest unless it knows the sale breaches the security agreement, but this protects customers, not a purchaser of the whole business or its assets.

Other searches that fill the gaps

A PPR search alone does not reveal every lien, because builders' liens, family maintenance liens and some other liens are filed with other agencies. Property searches cover land only, not equipment or inventory.

• Land Title Office title search if the business owns land or an interest in it, at $11.06 as at April 1, 2026, with a separate electronic transaction fee of $3.55 ($2.20 for prepaid accounts), plus GST, for searches through an LTSA account.
• A regular title search may miss a builders' lien submitted the same day but not yet registered, so lenders and buyers' lawyers often order a separate after-3:00 p.m. search.
• The federal Bankruptcy and Insolvency Records Search, with a minimum fee of $8 per search.
• Ask for a PST clearance certificate before you buy, because without one a buyer is liable for an amount equal to any outstanding amount owed by the seller, and this applies to bulk transactions too. The buyer applies online or by Application for Clearance (FIN 447), with the collector's consent.
• A corporate search for the company summary and Notice of Articles.

If you find a lien: next steps

A debtor, or any person with an interest in property within the collateral description, may give a written demand that a secured party amend or discharge a registration. The secured party must register a financing change statement within 40 days, and no fee may be charged for complying unless previously agreed. That can be a way to require a discharge of the seller's lender at closing.

• Order searches in the seller's legal name and the business name.
• Ask the seller to explain every registration you find.
• Ask your lawyer to build discharges into the closing steps.
• Ask your lawyer whether another search close to closing makes sense for your deal, since a registration can be made before the security agreement is signed.

Frequently asked questions