New South Wales Consolidated Acts

PROPERTY, STOCK AND BUSINESS AGENTS ACT 2002 - SECT 98

98 Disposal of unclaimed money in trust accounts

(1) When the Director-General receives an unclaimed money statement under this Division, the Director-General is to:

(a) send by post to each person for whom or on whose behalf any money referred to in the statement is held a notice (an "individual notice") in writing addressed to the person at the person’s address shown in the statement stating the particulars of the moneys held for or on behalf of that person, and

(b) cause notification to be published in the Gazette (a "Gazette notification") stating the particulars of the money held for or on behalf of each of those persons.

(2) Each individual notice and the Gazette notification is to state that, if the money is not paid out of the trust account in which it is held within 3 months after the date of publication of the Gazette notice, the person holding the money will be required to pay it to the Director-General.

(3) At any time after the expiration of that 3 months the Director-General may, by a notice in writing served personally or by post on the person by whom the money is held, require that person:

(a) to pay to the Director-General any moneys referred to in the Gazette notification that have not been previously paid by that person out of the trust account in which they are held, and

(b) to furnish to the Director-General, within such period as may be specified in the notice to the person, a statement showing particulars of any payments made out of the money referred to in the Gazette notification since the unclaimed money statement was made.

(4) The Director-General must pay any money received by the Director-General under this section into the Compensation Fund.

(5) Within 2 months after 31 December in each year, the Director-General must pay into the Consolidated Fund all money received by the Director-General and paid into the Compensation Fund under this section during the period of 12 months ending on that 31 December (less any of that money that has been paid from the Compensation Fund to the person entitled to the money).

(7) A person who fails to comply with the requirements of any notice served on the person under this section is guilty of an offence.

Maximum penalty: 50 penalty units.