NSW Hotel Lost Property Law: The Uncollected Goods Act 1995
Published September 2026 • 5 min read • Uncollected Goods Act 1995 (NSW)
How long must a hotel keep lost property in NSW?
Under the Uncollected Goods Act 1995 (NSW), a hotel must give at least 14 days' notice before disposing of low-value items (under $1,000), and at least 28 days' written notice for items worth $1,000–$20,000. Items over $20,000 can't be disposed of without an NCAT order.
New South Wales operates one of Australia's most clearly codified uncollected property frameworks, with disposal rules tiered by the estimated value of the item.
How the Act treats hotels as bailees
When a guest leaves an item behind, the hotel becomes a bailee — it holds the goods on the owner's behalf and owes a duty of reasonable care. The Uncollected Goods Act 1995 (NSW) sits on top of this common-law duty, setting out exactly how long a hotel must wait, and what notice it must give, before it can lawfully sell, donate or dispose of unclaimed property.
Notice periods scale with item value
The Act's central mechanic is a value-based tier system: the more an item is worth, the longer the hotel must wait and the more formal the notice must be before disposal.
- Rubbish and perishable items may generally be disposed of without notice.
- Lower-value items typically require a written or oral notice period of at least a couple of weeks before disposal.
- Mid-value items require a longer written notice period, often around four weeks.
- High-value items cannot be disposed of unilaterally — the hotel may need to apply to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) for authorisation.
Identity documents and financial cards
Passports, driver licences, Medicare cards and similar identity documents warrant special handling under NSW practice: written notice to the owner before destruction or return to the issuing authority, and secure storage in the meantime. Bank and payment cards are best destroyed (cut through the chip and magnetic strip) within a day or two if the guest can't be reached, to prevent fraud — cards are not something the Act expects a hotel to hold long-term.
Record-keeping
NSW practice expects hotels to retain a documented trail of when an item was logged, when the guest was notified, and how the item was ultimately disposed of. For lower-value items this is typically kept for around a year; for higher-value items, considerably longer. An append-only digital log (rather than a paper book that can go missing) is the easiest way to satisfy this in practice.
How Homebound handles this for NSW properties
Homebound gives every logged item an immutable, timestamped audit trail — from intake photo through guest notification to final disposition — so a NSW 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 a NSW hotel need a tribunal order to dispose of every lost item?+
No — only genuinely high-value items require NCAT authorisation. The large majority of hotel lost property (chargers, clothing, toiletries) falls into the lower-value tiers that only require a straightforward notice period.
What counts as sufficient notice to the guest under the NSW Act?+
Notice needs to be given in a way that's reasonably likely to reach the owner — typically an email or letter to the contact details held on the booking, sent with enough lead time before the relevant threshold (days for low-value items, weeks for higher-value items) expires. Keeping a timestamped record of when notice was sent is what actually protects the hotel if the guest later disputes it.
Protect Your Property
Keep an airtight lost property audit trail for your hotel.
Replace chaotic paper logs with Homebound. Log items in seconds, notify guests automatically and let couriers collect parcels straight from your reception desk. Free forever for hotels.