Unclaimed Money Act 1995

Money held by an enterprise in an account is not unclaimed money at any particular time (despite section 7) if, at that time, the recovery of the money by its owner is not barred by operation of law and—

the enterprise holding the money also holds other money (not being unclaimed money) of the owner in an account, or

the enterprise (or an officer of an enterprise that is not a natural person) knows or has reason to believe that the owner of the money wishes to retain the money in the account.

However, an enterprise (or an officer of an enterprise that is not a natural person) does not have reason to believe that an owner wishes to retain money in an account merely because the owner does not respond to a communication from the enterprise (or does not respond as specified in the communication), even if the terms of the communication suggest that the owner’s failure to respond indicates such a wish.

Money held by an enterprise in an account is not unclaimed money if the enterprise, or an officer of an enterprise that is not a natural person, knows or has reason to believe that the account has not been operated on for the period specified in section 7(1) because of a dispute between 1 or more persons about who the owner of the money is.

For the purposes of this Act, money is not unclaimed money if—

the money is, or is of a class, prescribed by the regulations as exempt from the operation of this Act, or

the money is held by an enterprise that is, or is of a class, prescribed by the regulations as exempt from the operation of this Act, or

the amount of money in the account concerned does not exceed $100.