Goods left behind by renters in Victoria

Whose duty it is

The storing, the telling and the selling below are all the rental provider’s. The renter’s part is to get in touch: Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV) says a renter who left goods behind should contact the rental provider as soon as possible to arrange collection. A rental provider cannot refuse to give belongings back, even if the renter owes rent or the rental provider has a possession order.

Three shelves

CAV sorts what was left into three groups. Picture them as three shelves in the empty room, each with its own waiting time.

• Straight away

  Perishable food, dangerous goods, and goods not worth any money. Personal documents are the exception, and so are the goods on the next shelf, which must be stored even when they are worth nothing.

• At least 14 days, in a safe place

  Goods that could be sold; labelled containers or urns holding human remains; “specialised medical devices, equipment and goods, including prostheses and prescription medications”; and medals and trophies.

• At least 90 days, in a safe place

  Personal documents: official documents, photographs, mail and other letters, images on still and video cameras, material on computer hard drives, and any other documents someone would reasonably be expected to keep.

Telling the renter

For the 14-day goods, the rental provider must take reasonable steps to tell the renter what was left, and CAV explains reasonable steps as steps most people would think are fair. The notice goes on CAV’s Notice of goods left behind form. The 14 days run from the date the rental provider first tells the renter, and the two can agree to a longer time. If the renter asks for longer and the rental provider refuses, the renter can apply to VCAT for an order.

Personal documents need the same reasonable steps. They must go back once the renter repays reasonable removal and storage costs, and a rental provider can be fined for refusing when the renter was willing to pay.

The occupation fee

Before handing goods back, the rental provider can ask for an ‘occupation fee’ to cover reasonable costs of moving and storing them, but only if so much was left, or it was so big, that the home could not be re-let. The fee can be no more than the rent for the days the goods were stored, and no more than 14 days’ rent in total. Where VCAT has ordered storage for more than 14 days, CAV says “the occupation fee must be equal to the number of days VCAT ordered the goods to be stored.”

After the waiting time

1. After 14 days If no owner reclaims the goods within 14 days, or an agreed time, or a time VCAT sets, the rental provider can sell them or get rid of them.
2. After at least 90 days If the rental provider has kept to the law and the documents are not claimed, they can be disposed of. The rental provider can then apply to VCAT for the cost of looking after and removing them.
3. For 6 months after a sale The former renter can claim the sale money, less the occupation fee and the costs of selling.
4. Within 30 days after that The rental provider must pay any unclaimed money, less the same amounts, into the Residential Tenancies Fund.

When it goes wrong

Either side can go to VCAT. A renter can ask for compensation if the rental provider got rid of goods or documents without following the proper procedures, refused to return them, or deliberately damaged or lost them or did not take proper care of them. A rental provider can ask for compensation for money it paid to remove, store or sell the goods, or for storage costs above the occupation fee it could charge.

The law is Part 9 of the Residential Tenancies Act 1997.