In New South Wales, goods worth less than $1,000 may be disposed of once the person who left them has had oral or written notice and at least 14 days to collect; goods worth $1,000 or more but under $20,000 need written notice and at least 28 days, and then go by public auction or private sale for a fair value; goods worth $20,000 or more may only be disposed of under an order of the Tribunal. Personal documents need written notice and at least 28 days, and a motor vehicle cannot be sold without a police certificate and a Personal Property Securities Register search. NSW Fair Trading also says the Act is not available for goods held by a storer with charges owed by the depositor; the Act names the Storage Liens Act 1935 among the laws it does not replace.
General informationAbout the NSW uncollected goods rules as the Act and NSW Fair Trading set them out on 9 October 2026, not advice about any unit or dispute. The places to check are NSW Fair Trading’s uncollected goods page and the Uncollected Goods Act 1995 itself.
01First: which Act?
NSW Fair Trading lists goods the Act is not available for. Pawned goods are one; goods held by a storer, where the depositor owes the storer charges, are another. The Act itself says it can be used as an alternative to other laws for disposing of particular goods, but not as an alternative to a short list that includes the Storage Liens Act 1935. (NSW Fair Trading’s page prints that Act’s year as 1988; the Act’s own list gives 1935.) This unit covers the uncollected goods rules, which apply where that exception does not; the Storage Liens Act’s own steps are in unit 06.
An agreement also comes first. The Act is available where the owner and the person holding the goods have no agreement about how they will be disposed of; where there is one, the Act covers whatever the agreement leaves out.
02When goods count as uncollected
Under the Act, goods held under a bailment (the Act’s word for goods one person, the depositor, has given into the possession of another, the receiver) are uncollected when they are ready to be handed back under the terms of that arrangement and the depositor has not taken them or given directions, or when the receiver has to give the depositor notice and cannot trace or reach them.
While the goods are held, NSW Fair Trading says the holder has a duty to safeguard them, the owner or anyone with a legal interest can reclaim them at any time, and the holder cannot refuse to hand them back because the owner owes rent or money for some other reason.
03The five bands
| Goods | Notice | Wait after notice | How they may go |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rubbish and perishables | None required | None | In whatever way the receiver considers appropriate |
| Personal documents | Written | At least 28 days | Securely destroyed, or returned to their author |
| Other goods under $1,000 | Oral or written | At least 14 days | In an appropriate manner |
| $1,000 to under $20,000 | Written | At least 28 days | Public auction, or private sale for a fair value |
| $20,000 or more | As the Tribunal orders | As the Tribunal orders | Only under a Tribunal order; the maximum penalty for doing otherwise is 200 penalty units |
Personal documents include identity documents such as a passport or birth certificate, bank books and other financial documents, photographs and other personal memorabilia, and licences. No charges are due for them.
04Valuing what is in a unit
The band turns on value, and NSW Fair Trading gives the measure: a reasonable estimate of what the goods could be sold for after reasonable efforts to sell them. Its guidance is to value several uncollected items one by one unless they plainly make up a set, and its example is this: a television and some clothing are valued separately, while a dining table and its chairs are one item.
That matters for a unit full of mixed belongings, because each item may fall in its own band. South Australia does the opposite and adds everything together; its guide works an example.
05The notice and who receives it
A notice under this part of the Act must include
- the receiver’s name
- a description of the goods
- an address where they can be collected
- the relevant charges due to the receiver
- a statement that on or after a set date the goods will be disposed of unless they are collected and the charges paid
- where it applies, a statement that the receiver will keep, from what the sale brings in, no more than those charges.
NSW Fair Trading says the notice can be given in person, by letter or by email. The Act does not require notice to anyone other than the depositor and a person with a publicly registered interest in the goods if the receiver is unaware of that person’s interest or cannot trace or reach them. Where the owner is unknown or cannot be reached, NSW Fair Trading describes making reasonable efforts to identify and contact them, then storing the goods for the relevant period before disposing of them.
Part 3 of the Act, the route by notice set out above, does not apply to goods held under a bailment while the depositor and receiver dispute a charge for storage, carriage or work on the goods, or the goods’ condition. A receiver can instead ask the Tribunal for orders, and must then follow the order rather than the Act’s other disposal steps.
06The money and the record
From a sale the receiver may keep the relevant charges, which NSW Fair Trading says reflect actual costs while the goods are uncollected and include no profit. Any balance goes back to the owner or is handled as unclaimed money through Revenue NSW, and a shortfall can be recovered from the depositor as a debt in court.
Within 7 days of disposing of goods, the receiver records what they were, when and how they went, and for a sale the buyer, the proceeds and the amount kept. The record is kept for 12 months for goods under $1,000 and 6 years otherwise, and shown on request to the depositor or anyone claiming an interest. Anyone who claims to have disposed of goods under the Act carries the burden of proving it was done that way.
A motor vehicle, including a caravan, needs more: a certificate from the Commissioner of Police that it is not recorded as stolen and a written search result from the Personal Property Securities Register, with the certificate application served at least 28 days before the sale.