Unattended vehicles

On 1st November 2022, the new Public Spaces (Unattended Property) Act 2021 came into effect repealing and replacing the Impounding Act 1993. The stated aims of the new Act are:

• 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

The Act classifies items that may be possessed by a person into three classes:

1. Class 1 items – small to medium sized capable of ownership that can be ordinarily collected by one or two persons without the need for machinery to lift, tow or move them (e.g., baggage, personal equipment such as surfboards or kayaks that are not available for hire).
2. Class 2 items – items available for use by the public at large, whether on payment of a fee or other benefit, including as part of a sharing service (e.g., share-bikes and shopping trolleys).
3. Class 3 items – motor vehicles, including hire cars, caravans, trailers, and boat trailers.

A key element of the new legislation is whether Class 1 to 3 items left in public places are ‘Unattended’. Unattended is defined in the Act as ‘not under the direct control or supervision of the responsible person’ and specific rules apply to each class of item when assessing whether they can be legally determined to be unattended or not. Owners and others responsible for unattended items may be liable to on-the spot-fines and/or Court action if they do not remove their property from public property.

Inner West Council will aim to enforce this with pro-active and re-active patrols managed within risk-based timeframes.

Although the legislation was implemented in November, there is a grace period in effect regarding the issuing of fines under this new Act until May 2023 which allows for the public and businesses to become familiar and comply with the new laws. The grace period, however, does not prevent Council from taking possession and/or removing items from public areas as long as the prescribed risk-based timeframes have been complied with by Council’s Regulatory Officers.

For further information about the new laws and what they mean for you can be found at the NSW Government website:

• NSW Government: New rules for vehicles - Unattended property

View the new rules for vehicles (PDF 430.1KB)