Fixtures occupy a unique position in commercial law—namely the intersection between real and personal property. As such, the issues relating to these assets are sometimes not fully appreciated by both real estate lenders, who often assume that their lien on financed real property will cover everything attached to that property, and personal property financiers, who often assume that their collateral is free of competing liens, although they may have only searched the UCC central filing office.
When assets are or become fixtures, how to perfect a lien against those fixtures and how to determine the priority of that lien has challenged the judiciary and confounded lenders for years, as evidenced by the continuing court battles between personal property and real estate secured lenders. Today’s column examines those questions, as well as the treatment generally of these assets under Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code.
