Under South Australia’s Unclaimed Goods Act 1987, goods worth $200 or less vest in the business holding them (become its property) if no one collects them during a holding period of at least 14 days after notice; goods worth more than $200 but less than $20,000 may go to public auction or be sold privately for a fair value after a 28-day holding period; and goods worth $20,000 or more may only be disposed of by court order, after a 60-day holding period. With a motor vehicle among the goods, the $200 line becomes $1,000, and the vehicle also needs a Personal Property Securities Register search and notice to anyone with a registered interest. Personal documents are never sold and have their own 28-day rule.
General informationAbout South Australia’s Act as published on 9 October 2026, not advice about any unit or sale. No South Australian Government guidance page on unclaimed goods is among this guide’s sources, so everything here is read from the Act itself, in its version dated 1 August 2026.
01When goods become unclaimed
The Act speaks of a provider, who hands goods over, and a recipient, who holds them. Goods become unclaimed when the provider was to collect them by a certain time and has not; when the recipient was to deliver them and, after reasonable attempts, could not; or, with no agreement about collection or delivery, when a request to collect has been refused or not acted on within 14 days, or the recipient took reasonable steps to find contact details and could not. Rubbish, perishables and goods that risk someone’s health or safety are unclaimed as well.
A request to collect states the address where the goods are, briefly describes them and gives the times they can be collected, and it must allow a reasonable chance to collect them.
As in every state here, an agreement comes first: the Act does not apply to disposal to the extent an agreement between provider and recipient deals with it and both act in line with it.
02The three scales
| Scale | Value, most goods | Value, with a motor vehicle | Holding period | Then |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scale 1 | $200 or less | $1,000 or less | At least 14 days | The goods vest in the recipient, free of any lien or charge in favour of the provider or owner, and of any other the recipient did not know of |
| Scale 2 | More than $200, less than $20,000 | More than $1,000, less than $20,000 | 28 days | Public auction, or private sale for a fair value; any other disposal only by court order |
| Scale 3 | $20,000 or more | $20,000 or more | 60 days | Disposal only by court order, with the Commissioner of Police told of the application |
03A unit’s contents are added together
The scale is set by the cumulative value of the goods, not the value of each item. For a storage unit holding many modest things, that can move the whole lot up a scale.
Illustrative exampleThe figures are made up to show the arithmetic, not taken from any real unit.
A unit holds a couch estimated at $150, a bicycle at $90 and boxes of books at $40. Each item alone is under $200. Together they come to $150 + $90 + $40 = $280, which is more than $200 and less than $20,000: scale 2, a 28-day holding period, and a sale by auction or private sale for a fair value rather than vesting.
New South Wales’ guidance works the other way, valuing items one by one unless they make up a set, as its guide explains.
04The notice
For scales 1, 2 and 3 alike, the notice identifies the goods and says they are unclaimed, states the holding period, says what will happen if they are not collected by its end (vesting for scale 1, disposal for scales 2 and 3), and carries any other prescribed information. It goes to each relevant person: the provider and, where the recipient knows who it is, the owner. If reasonable steps to find a relevant person’s contact details all fail, notice is taken to have been given on the day the goods became unclaimed. Where the usual ways of serving a notice are not reasonably possible, any available method of communication may be used.
Documents, rubbish and perishables
Personal documents, a group that includes passports, birth certificates, licences, personal photographs and papers with personal financial or medical information, must not be sold, may only be disposed of in a way that protects the information in them, and need a 28-day holding period after notice. Rubbish may be disposed of from the day it becomes unclaimed. Perishable goods, or goods that risk someone’s health or safety, may go after notice and a reasonable time for their nature and condition.
Motor vehicles
A motor vehicle among the goods cannot vest or be disposed of until the recipient has searched the Personal Property Securities Register, given each person with a registered interest a notice, and waited 14, 28 or 60 days by scale.
05If the owner comes back
An owner or provider who claims the goods before they vest or are disposed of gets them back, but the recipient may first give a written account of its reasonable costs of acting under the Act, of storing and maintaining the goods since they became unclaimed, and of the agreed or reasonable charges for storage and other work. If 21 days pass after that account without payment, or without collection after payment, scale 1 goods vest and other goods may be disposed of; the owner or provider can ask the court to review the account, and once the recipient has notice of that application it may not dispose of the goods until the court decides. The Magistrates Court hears questions about goods worth up to $100,000.
06The money and the record
From a sale the recipient may keep its reasonable costs and the agreed or reasonable charges, and the balance is paid to the Treasurer. A person with an interest can apply to the Treasurer for it, for no less than a prescribed amount and within 25 years of the Treasurer receiving it. A recipient who disposes of scale 2 or 3 goods records what they were, when and how they went, and for a sale the buyer, the price and the amount kept, and keeps that record for 6 years. A recipient acting in good faith in line with the Act carries no civil or criminal liability for it.