#38563
Sir Humphrey
Strataguru

    Each state would have its equivalent of the Uncollected Goods Act (or similar title) that sets out what you have to do to legally dispose of someone else’s property when left on your property. A strata manager who manages more than a few properties should be across the process as they will have had to deal with this sort of issue often enough.

    I expect you are legally obliged to attempt to find the owner before you can dispose of their goods. Then, if they are sold without finding the owner, there might be a requirement to hold the proceeds in a trust account for some period of time. The stringency of the requirements varies with the estimated value of the goods. If the fridge is small and old, you might fall below a threshold that make the process relatively simple.

    Still, if you think it is actually quite handy to have the wherewithal to make a cup of tea or coffee and store some non-curdled milk, perhaps you could survey the other tenants and owners to see if they are happy to host a fridge and a kettle. If most are happy, the one upset occupant might be persuaded that it is not such a big deal.

    Before involving the manager and legal processes, I would ask around and put a note on the fridge door requesting a discussion with a committee member. Otherwise you might make the upset occupant happy but make another occupant unhappy, perhaps an occupant who thought they were just being nice and doing everyone a favour.