In all five states a storage business has a lien on goods deposited with it for storage, for its charges (in four, subject to a notice of the lien: section 02), and may sell them to satisfy it once some of the charges are old enough: more than 6 months in New South Wales (more than 12 for goods deposited there before the Warehousemen’s Liens (Amendment) Act 1989 began), Queensland and Western Australia, at least six months in South Australia, and more than 12 months in Victoria. A written notice of intention to sell comes first, with a day to pay at least one month away (at least 30 days in Queensland).
General informationAbout five Acts as published on 9 October 2026, not advice about any unit, charge or sale. Each is read from the Act itself: New South Wales (in force), Queensland (current as at 30 January 2012), Western Australia (version 03-a0-03), Victoria (as at 25 October 2012, summarised in our own words) and South Australia (version of 12 December 2008).
01Five Acts, and who they cover
Each Act reaches a business lawfully storing other people’s goods as their bailee, for payment.
- New South Wales, Storage Liens Act 1935: a storer, storing goods “for hire”.
- Queensland, Storage Liens Act 1973: a storer, “for reward”; motor vehicles are not goods under it.
- Western Australia, Warehousemen’s Liens Act 1952: a warehouseman, “for hire or reward”.
- Victoria, Warehousemen’s Liens Act 1958: a warehouseman, storing for payment.
- South Australia, Warehouse Liens and Storage Act 1990 (formerly the Warehouse Liens Act 1990): an operator of a warehouse, storing “for fee or reward” as a bailee; in its section on intermingled goods (section 14A) the words “as a bailee” fall away.
A Queensland storer that complies with the Storage Liens Act need not also comply with the Disposal of Uncollected Goods Act 1967 for the goods. How each uncollected goods law makes way for these Acts is on the home page.
02The lien, and the notice that keeps it
Each lien covers lawful charges for storing and preserving the goods, other lawful expenses such as insurance, transport and labour, and reasonable costs of the Act’s notices and the sale; New South Wales and Queensland add money advanced and interest.
Four Acts require written notice of the lien, counted from the deposit:
- New South Wales: within two months, to the owner and anyone whose interest the storer actually knows of, but only where someone the owner entrusted with the goods deposited them, not the owner or someone with the owner’s authority.
- Queensland: within 3 months, to anyone who served a claim on the storer, or whose interest it knew of, within 2 months, and to the holder of a bill of sale over the goods granted by the depositor or another person whose interest it knows of, registered before the deposit and still in effect; not to the depositor.
- Victoria: within two months, to anyone who has served a claim in the prescribed form and anyone whose interest the warehouseman knows of.
- Western Australia: within 3 months, for goods at or above a value prescribed under the Criminal and Found Property Disposal Act 2006, to anyone with an interest registered under the Personal Property Securities Act 2009 before the deposit and still in effect, or known to the warehouseman within 2 months.
Without it, the lien is void from the end of that period: against the person not told in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria, and outright in Western Australia. In South Australia the duty runs the other way: a depositor who is not the absolute owner tells the operator in writing the name and address, if known, of each person it knows has an interest.
03The path to a sale, state by state
| Step | NSW | QLD | WA | VIC | SA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charges overdue | Some part more than 6 months old at the notice; more than 12 months for goods deposited before the 1989 amending Act began | Some part more than 6 months old at the notice | Some part more than 6 months old at the notice | Some part more than 12 months old at the notice | Owed for at least six months |
| Day to pay | At least one month after personal delivery, or after a posted notice should arrive | At least 30 days after the notice is given in a prescribed manner | At least one month after personal delivery, or after a posted notice should arrive | At least a month after it is handed over, or after a posted one would normally arrive | At least one month after service |
| Advertising | No step of its own in the Act as published; the notice says the goods will be advertised and auctioned | A Brisbane newspaper circulating throughout the State, and a local one if any | At least twice, at least 7 days apart, in a newspaper circulating where the sale is held, plus a Perth daily if it is not a daily | Weekly for two weeks running, in a paper read where the sale is held and a Melbourne daily | Weekly for two weeks running, in a daily circulating generally throughout the State |
| Earliest sale | Once the day to pay passes unpaid | 28 days after the advertisement, or after the last one if run on different days | 14 days after the first advertisement, subject to section 8 (paying first) | 14 days after the first advertisement | 14 days after the first advertisement |
| How sold | Public auction | Public auction | Public auction, or a mode prescribed for that kind of goods | Public auction, unless regulations set another way for that kind of goods | Public auction, unless another mode is prescribed for that class |
| Money left over | To the person entitled; if not demanded within 14 days of the sale, unclaimed money under the Unclaimed Money Act 1995 | To the public trustee within 28 days, unless already paid to the person entitled | To the person entitled 10 to 14 days after the sale; if no claim within 10 days, to the Treasurer within 14 | To the person entitled 10 to 14 days after the sale; if nobody claims it within 10 days, to the Registrar of Unclaimed Money within 14 | 10 to 21 days after the sale: to the Treasurer if no written claim is lodged within 10 days, otherwise to the claimant |
Where claims to the money left over conflict or are uncertain, it goes to a court instead: the nearest Magistrates Court in Western Australia, the County Court in Victoria, and in South Australia the nearest local court, as it also does there when a lodged claim is disputed.
04The notice of intention to sell
In every state the notice is in writing and goes to the person liable for the charges. In New South Wales it also goes to the owner of the goods. It also goes to anyone whose interest in the goods the business knows of (in New South Wales, actually knows of), and to anyone who has served it a claim to the goods: in writing in New South Wales, where that person counts as an owner, and in South Australia; by a prescribed notice in Queensland, and in the prescribed form in Western Australia and Victoria. Queensland adds the bill of sale holders in section 02, and South Australia anyone whose interest is registered under another Act and findable by an ordinary search of the registers using what the business knows.
It describes the goods, says where they are stored and when and by whom they were deposited, itemises the charges, demands payment by the day to pay, and warns that the goods will be sold if they stay unpaid.