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Freedom Camping Act 2011

Enforcement, miscellaneous, and transitional provisions - Enforcement officers

40: Disposal of property seized and impounded

You could also call this:

“What happens to your stuff if it's taken away for breaking camping rules”

If someone takes your things because you broke the rules, they can get rid of them if you don’t come to get them back within 6 months. Before they do this, they have to try to tell you about it at least 14 working days before. If they can’t find you, they’ll try to tell the person they took the things from.

They can get rid of the things however they want. When they sell your things, they use the money to pay for taking, keeping, and getting rid of the things. If there’s any money left over, they give it back to you or the person they took the things from.

If they can’t find you or the owner of the things after trying hard, they can still get rid of them after 6 months. They’ll use the money the same way as before.

If there’s still money left after paying for everything, it goes to the local council or to the government, depending on who was looking after your things.

In this law, ‘working days’ means the same thing it does in another law called the Local Government Act 2002.

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This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM3742899.

Topics:
Housing and property > Land use
Government and voting > Local councils
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39: Return of property seized and impounded, or

“Getting your stuff back after it's taken for freedom camping”

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“Officers are protected when they take and hold campers' property”

Part 3 Enforcement, miscellaneous, and transitional provisions
Enforcement officers

40Disposal of property seized and impounded

  1. A local authority, the Director-General, the chief executive, or the commissioner may dispose of property that has not been returned within 6 months after it was seized and impounded so long as the local authority, the Director-General, the chief executive, or the commissioner 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, the Director-General’s, the chief executive’s, or the commissioner’s intention to dispose of the property.

  2. The local authority, the Director-General, the chief executive, or the commissioner may dispose of the property as the local authority, the Director-General, the chief executive, or the commissioner thinks fit.

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

  4. first, the costs incurred in seizing, impounding, transporting, and storing the property:
    1. secondly, the costs of disposing of the property:
      1. thirdly, any surplus to the owner of the property or the person from whom it was seized.

        1. 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:

        2. where the person from whom the property was seized cannot be contacted after reasonable efforts to find the person have been made:
          1. 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.

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

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

            Notes
            • Section 40(1): amended, on , by section 35(1) of the Self-contained Motor Vehicles Legislation Act 2023 (2023 No 24).
            • Section 40(1): amended, on , by section 35(2) of the Self-contained Motor Vehicles Legislation Act 2023 (2023 No 24).
            • Section 40(2): amended, on , by section 35(1) of the Self-contained Motor Vehicles Legislation Act 2023 (2023 No 24).
            • Section 40(5): amended, on , by section 35(3) of the Self-contained Motor Vehicles Legislation Act 2023 (2023 No 24).