Unclaimed Goods Act 1987

A recipient of unclaimed goods that the recipient knows are personal documents—

must not sell the goods and may only otherwise dispose of the goods in a manner that protects the security of the documents and any personal information contained in the documents; and

must not dispose of the goods unless—

each relevant person has, on or after the day on which the goods became unclaimed goods under this Act, been given notice by the recipient, in accordance with subsection (2), allowing the person at least 28 days after the day on which the notice was given (the holding period) to collect the goods; and

no relevant person has collected the goods from the recipient during the holding period.

A notice to be given for the purposes of subsection (1)(b)(i) must—

identify the goods and specify that they are unclaimed; and

specify the holding period that applies to the unclaimed goods; and

notify the person that the goods will be disposed of by the recipient if not collected by the end of the holding period; and

contain any other prescribed information.

For the purposes of subsection (1)(b)(i)—

if the recipient does not know the contact details of a relevant person; and

all reasonable steps taken by the recipient (whether for the purposes of section 5 or this section) to obtain their contact details have failed, the recipient will be taken to have given notice as required by subsection (1)(b)(i) on the day on which the goods became unclaimed goods under this Act.