Also known as: fixture filing · UCC fixture filing
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A filing of a financing statement covering goods that are or are to become fixtures and satisfying the requirements of Section 9-502(a) and (b). The filing occurs in the real property records and provides constructive notice to parties searching those records.
Flagship Logistics financed new industrial ovens for Floyd Franklin's bakery and took a purchase-money security interest. Flagship filed a fixture filing in the county real property records eighteen days after the ovens were installed and became fixtures. When Franklin defaulted, Flagship's interest took priority over a later mortgage because the fixture filing occurred within the required window after affixation.
Freeman Engineering sold and financed custom conveyor systems to Frostline Textiles for installation in a leased warehouse. Freeman recorded a fixture filing in the real property records before the landlord's existing mortgagee recorded its interest. When Frostline defaulted, Freeman's perfected interest prevailed over the mortgage because the fixture filing preceded the encumbrancer's recording.
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A fixture filing must be made in the real property records and include a description of the real property to which the goods relate. An ordinary financing statement filed only in the central office perfects against personal property but does not provide priority against real property encumbrancers once goods become fixtures.
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A fixture filing is required before the goods become fixtures or within twenty days thereafter for purchase-money interests, or before the encumbrancer's interest is of record in other cases. Without it, the security interest in fixtures is subordinate to the real property encumbrancer's interest.
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It perfects the interest as to personal property but does not satisfy the requirements for fixture priority. A proper fixture filing in the real property records is needed to gain priority over owners or encumbrancers of the real estate.
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Yes. Article 9 expressly permits a security interest to be created in goods that are or become fixtures, provided the goods are not ordinary building materials incorporated into an improvement.
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