abandoned property

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Lost, mislaid, and abandoned property are categories of the common law of property which deals with personal property or chattel which has left the possession of its rightful owner without having directly entered the possession of another person. Property can be considered lost, mislaid or abandoned depending on the circumstances under which it is found by the next party who obtains its possession.
There is an old saying that possession is nine-tenths of the law, perhaps dating back centuries. This means that in most cases, the possessor of a piece of property is its rightful owner without evidence to the contrary. More colloquially, this may be called finders, keepers. The contradiction to this principle is theft by finding, which may occur if conversion occurs after finding someone else's property.
The rights of a finder of such property are determined in part by the status in which it is found. Because these classifications have developed under the common law of England, they turn on nuanced distinctions. The general rule attaching to the three types of property may be summarized as: A finder of property acquires no rights in mislaid property, is entitled to possession of lost property against everyone except the true owner, and is entitled to keep abandoned property. This rule varies by jurisdiction.

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  1. B

    NSW Ownership of Abandoned Property

    Out of the goodness of my heart I allowed a friend of a friend (named J) to move into my house (I rent) for a couple of weeks, just to help out as didnt want to move into his relatives place & had no where else to go. J & I had no written agreement in place but verbally agreed on $200/week board...
  2. M

    NSW Abandonment law on house in joint name ?

    Hi , 20 years ago I inherited my mothers house with my sister , my ex partner and I bought her half of the house ( with a loan ) and proceeded to live in, we are separated now 7 years , he has not contributed one cent to the house or bills since he ran off , there are no contact details since he...
  3. D

    NSW What constitutes abandoned property?

    My son-in-law set up a business in a shed on my property. The business failed for a number of reasons but mainly due to family breakup. He left all the specialist gear in the shed and has not answered requests as to his intentions for at least 8 months. He owes me money for electricity and rent...
  4. D

    NSW abandoned property rights

    My son-in-law set up a business in a shed on my property. The business failed for a number of reasons but mainly due to family breakup. He left all the specialist gear in the shed and has not answered requests as to his intentions for at least 8 months. He owes me money for electricity and rent...
  5. danielle81

    NSW Abandoned House Laws in NSW?

    Hi Was wanting as much info as possible in regards to abandoned houses in NSW. Have done a few searches on the LPI.GOV site to find title holders details, and it returned a business name a (solicitors).? The most recent certificate of title, says STATUS-NOT IN LPI, DELIVERY DATE-...
  6. R

    QLD Can I Legally Deliver Abandoned Property to Ex?

    I understand that I'm legally obligated to not damage, throw away or sell any abandoned property or goods left by my ex from 5 months ago. Can I legally under property law drop her belongings off to where she's staying at, when I next pick up my son, from there? Even if she says "she can't take...
  7. F

    WA Abandoned Property - Can I Dispose of Items After 9 Years?

    9 years ago, I cleaned out my brother's house at his request as he was on charges and in remand. I bought a sea container and put his belongings into it and stored it on my rural property. For the last 8 years, I have requested verbally that he remove his belongings. On October 17 2016, he...
  8. Jaffasoft

    VIC What to Do with Abandoned Property Left by Boarder?

    Hi, I allowed a mate to stay at my property and pay $100 week rent. We did not sign any formal lease agreement. After a number of months I returned home and resided at the same property on a shared arrangement. The rent had gotten behind considerably. When push came to shove there was...
  9. P

    NSW When to Safely Get Rid of Abandoned Property?

    So here's the situation. We are owners of a unit in Sydney and just found out we have a storage cage. Apparently this cage was unlabelled earlier and used by someone without authorisation. It's now been labelled by the strata management and we've noticed goods in our cage. We've tried to find...
  10. N

    QLD When is Vehicle Considered an Abandoned Property?

    My son and I recovered an abandoned, bogged NSW registered vehicle from a beach here in Queensland in August this year. According to a camper, it had been sitting in this state for over a week when we found it. Keys were in the ignition, half tank of fuel but flat tires. We towed the vehicle off...