Freedom Camping Act 2011

40 Disposal of property seized and impounded

• (1) A local authority or the Director-General may dispose of property that has not been returned within 6 months after it was seized and impounded so long as the local authority or the Director-General has given the owner of the property or, if the owner cannot be identified or contacted after reasonable efforts have been made, the person it was seized from, not less than 14 working days' notice of the local authority's or the Director-General's intention to dispose of the property.

  (2) The local authority or the Director-General may dispose of the property as the local authority or the Director-General thinks fit.

  (3) Any proceeds from the disposal must be applied to pay—

  • (a) first, the costs incurred in seizing, impounding, transporting, and storing the property:

  • (b) secondly, the costs of disposing of the property:

  • (c) thirdly, any surplus to the owner of the property or the person from whom it was seized.

  (4) Subsections (2), (3)(a), and (3)(b) also apply in the following circumstances to property that has not been returned within 6 months after it was seized and impounded:

  • (a) where the person from whom the property was seized cannot be contacted after reasonable efforts to find the person have been made:

  • (b) where the property was not seized from a person and the owner of the property cannot be identified or contacted after reasonable efforts have been made to find the owner.

  (5) Any surplus remaining after applying subsection (3) forms part of the general revenues of the local authority or, if the Director-General has been responsible for the seized property, must be paid into a Crown Bank Account.

  (6) In subsection (1), working days has the meaning given to working day in section 5(1) of the Local Government Act 2002.