ACT Hotel Lost Property Law: Uncollected Goods Act 1996
Published September 2026 • 3 min read • Uncollected Goods Act 1996 (ACT)
How long must a hotel keep lost property in the ACT?
The Uncollected Goods Act 1996 (ACT) requires notice to the owner before disposal, with more valuable items warranting a longer, more formal notice process. Current thresholds are worth confirming directly against the Act.
The ACT's Uncollected Goods Act 1996 governs how a Canberra hotel must notify a guest and process unclaimed items before disposal.
What the Act requires
As with the equivalent NSW, WA and SA statutes, the ACT Act requires a holder of uncollected property to give the owner notice before disposing of it, with more valuable items warranting a more formal notice process. The obligation sits on top of the same common-law bailment duty that applies to any Australian hotel holding a guest's belongings.
Running this well at a Canberra property
The operational playbook doesn't change much across jurisdictions: log the item immediately with a photo and room number, notify the guest through the contact details on their booking, and keep that notice on record before the item is disposed of, donated, or handed to ACT Policing.
How Homebound handles this for ACT properties
Homebound gives every logged item an immutable, timestamped audit trail — from intake photo through guest notification to final disposition — so a ACT property always has the record this guide describes without relying on a paper logbook or spreadsheet. Guests enter their own shipping address and pay for courier return themselves, and it costs the hotel nothing to run.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the ACT Act apply the same way to hotels and to other businesses?+
The Uncollected Goods Act 1996 is a general framework, not hotel-specific — but a hotel's bailment relationship with a departed guest is exactly the kind of situation it's designed to cover.
What should an ACT hotel do with unclaimed cash or valuables?+
Treat them as a separate, higher-priority category: secure storage, a genuine attempt to reach the guest, and handover to ACT Policing if the item stays unclaimed, rather than disposal or donation.
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