Unattended property laws evaluation
The Office of Local Government finalised an evaluation of the implementation of the Public Spaces (Unattended Property) Act 2021 and the Public Spaces (Unattended Property) Regulation 2022 in 2026. The evaluation examined the effectiveness of the legislative framework and how the laws have been applied in practice.
The evaluation was informed by 214 pieces of correspondence received by the Minister for Local Government or the OLG, 141 submissions to a public consultation survey and analysis of 7,956 penalty infringement notices issued under the Public Spaces (Unattended Property) (PSUP) laws.
Based on the findings, OLG proposes 4 short term key actions, specifically to:
- Educate the community and raise awareness about responsible owner obligations, focussed on vehicles, trailers and vans.
- Educate the community that retailers have primary responsibility to manage shopping trolleys.
- Improve corporate awareness of responsibilities and compliance from retailers on collection and management of shopping trolleys.
- Provide clearer guidance and education for councils to assist in the enforcement, compliance and exercise of discretion.
A longer-term action is proposed to consider the legislative and regulatory matters identified in the evaluation.
Evaluation findings
Overall, the evaluation found broad support for the increased regulatory powers and offence penalties provided under the PSUP laws, particularly for vehicles.
Councils that responded to the survey generally consider the laws effective, but identified challenges relating to resourcing, community expectations, regulatory complexity and consistent application of discretion, including determining whether property is ‘unattended’.
Community feedback reflected specific concerns about certain types of private property remaining unattended beyond what they consider to be reasonable timeframes, in particular, vehicle trailers and shopping trolleys. It also reflected strong expectations for swift enforcement action from councils and assumed there was no discretion in enforcement.
Submissions from industry stakeholders was generally supportive of the laws but noted challenges in meeting trolley collection timeframes and considered the associated penalty amounts to be too high. Read the PSUP evaluation submissions (PDF, 4.8 MB).
View the Public Spaces (Unattended Property) evaluation report
Read the PSUP evaluation report (PDF, 588 KB) for detailed findings, stakeholder feedback and analysis of how the PSUP laws are operating in practice.
Background
The Public Spaces (Unattended Property) Act 2021 repealed the Impounding Act 1993 and represented the biggest change to impounding laws in nearly 30 years. The revisions protect our footpaths, streets, parks, bushland and waterways from abandoned and unattended property, including stock animals.
Commencing on 1 November 2022, the new act provided councils, other public land managers and police with stronger powers. Owners and others deemed responsible for shopping trolleys, unregistered and abandoned cars, unattended trailers, and stray stock animals face on-the-spot fines, higher court penalties, rapid seizure action and enforcement orders.
The new laws made it easier for council officers to track down owners of shopping trolleys and vehicles, reducing the need for impounding action. In addition, councils gained permission to store and dispose of unattended or abandoned items and animals taken into possession, significantly reducing red tape and cost for local communities.
We developed the following information and resources to support the legislation.
Stakeholder support and resources
The new Public Spaces Unattended Property laws repeal and replace the outdated Impounding Act 1993 to create stronger incentives for people to take responsibility for their property in public – such as stock animals, vehicles, shopping trolleys, bikes and kayaks.
Owners and others responsible must attend to their things within reasonable, timeframes or face regulatory action.
Key benefits of the PSUP laws for councils and other public land authorities include:
- stronger regulatory and enforcement powers to deal with property left unattended in public
- higher penalties for offences
- greater ability to recover regulatory costs from those responsible
- greater flexibility to temporarily store or care for unattended items and animals
- reduced costs for compliance and storage
- easier way to work with other authorities across jurisdictional boundaries
- better way to deal with stock animals in emergencies.
Guidelines have been prepared to support councils and other public land authorities to undertake their functions under the Act.
For further information, refer to the resources or read the frequently asked questions.
Local communities are concerned about safety and amenity issues caused by property left unattended on public footpaths, roads and in parks and reserves.
In response to these concerns, on 1 November 2022, following consultation with key stakeholders, the NSW Government commenced new Public Spaces Unattended Property laws. These new laws repeal and replace outdated Impounding laws.
The new laws create stronger incentives for owners, operators and others to attend to property in public that they are responsible for within reasonable, risk-based timeframes with notice, or face regulatory action.
The Public Spaces Unattended Property laws provide further direction for industry to be responsible for their property in public.
For supermarkets and others that operate sharing services, a Code of Practice sets out minimum standards for Class 2 items (sharing service items) in addition to the laws in the Act and regulations.
For further information, refer to the resources or read the frequently asked questions.
Local communities are concerned about safety and amenity issues caused by property left unattended on public footpaths, roads and in parks and reserves.
On 1 November 2022, following consultation with key stakeholders, the NSW Government commenced the Public Spaces (Unattended Property) Act 2021 (PSUP Act).
The new laws create stronger incentives for owners and others to be responsible for their property left in public – such as stock animals, vehicles, shopping trolleys, bikes and kayaks.
The new laws give councils and other authorities strong powers to make people pick up their belongings from public within a reasonable timeframe, or potentially be fined and have to collect their property from a place of temporary storage or care.
Owners who do not attend to their property left in public within a reasonable timeframe will face fines and penalties.
The new laws will help to keep our public spaces safer and more accessible.
For further information, refer to the resources or read the frequently asked questions.
Resources
- Public Spaces (Unattended Property) evaluation report (PDF, 588 KB)
- Code of Practice for Class 2 Items – Shopping Trolleys and other Sharing Service Items (PDF, 158 KB)
- New rules for animals – Infographic (PDF, 301 KB)
- New rules for animals left in public or trespassing onto private land – Fact sheet (PDF, 6.7 MB)
- New rules for personal items – Infographic (PDF, 161 KB)
- New rules for sharing services – Infographic (PDF, 165 KB)
- New rules for shopping trolleys and share bikes, and other sharing services left in public – Fact sheet (PDF, 2.3 MB)
- New rules for small or medium sized personal items left in public – Fact sheet (PDF, 3.2 MB)
- New rules for vehicles – Infographic (PDF, 239 KB)
- New rules for vehicles left in public – Fact sheet (PDF, 914 KB)
- Public Spaces (Unattended Property) Act 2021 No 38 (PDF, 368 KB)
- Public Spaces (Unattended Property) Act 2021 offences referenced against the former Impounding Act 1993 (PDF, 60 KB)
- Public Spaces (Unattended Property) Guidelines (PDF, 12.9 MB)
- Public Spaces (Unattended Property) Regulation 2022 (PDF, 225 KB)