{"id":"unclaimed-money-regulations-1991","name":"Unclaimed Money Regulations 1991","slug":"unclaimed-money-regulations-1991","collection":"regulation","jurisdiction":"wa","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":182294,"registerId":"wa-unclaimed-money-regulations-1991-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-05","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Unclaimed Money Regulations 1991","content":"![Crest]()Western Australia\n\nUnclaimed Money Act 1990\n\nUnclaimed Money Regulations 1991\n\nWestern Australia\n\nUnclaimed Money Regulations 1991\n\nContents\n\n1. Citation 1\n\n2. Notification to Treasurer of unclaimed money and prescribed retained money 1\n\n2A. Exemption for certain mining survey fees 2\n\n2B. Exemption to allow voluntary payment of interest earned on patients trust account 2\n\n3. Notification to Treasurer of payment of unclaimed money or prescribed retained money 3\n\n4. Advertising by Treasurer 3\n\n4A. Exemption from advertising for small amounts 4\n\n5. Money paid to Treasury under section 13 5\n\n6. Money paid to Treasurer under section 14 5\n\n7. Payment of interest 6\n\nSchedule 1\n\nNotes\n\nCompilation table 10\n\nDefined terms\n\n  \n\nWestern Australia\n\nUnclaimed Money Act 1990\n\nUnclaimed Money Regulations 1991\n\n##### 1. Citation\n\nThese regulations may be cited as the *Unclaimed Money Regulations 1991* 1.\n\n##### 2. Notification to Treasurer of unclaimed money and prescribed retained money\n\n(1) Subject to subregulation (1a), the date for the making of a notification of prescribed retained money is 31 January next following the date on which the money concerned became prescribed retained money.\n\n(1a) The date for the making of a notification of prescribed retained money to which regulation 2A applies, is 31 January 1997.\n\n(2) The additional matters that are to be included in a notification of unclaimed money (or prescribed retained money) are —\n\n(a) the name and address of the holder of the money;\n\n(b) the address of the owner of the money; and\n\n(c) where particulars of the person to whom or the place to which enquiries about the money being notified should be directed are different from the particulars supplied under paragraph (a), particulars of the different person or place.\n\n(3) A notification of unclaimed money or prescribed retained money is to be in the form of Form 1 in Schedule 1.\n\n[Regulation 2 amended: Gazette 20 Aug 1996 p. 4069.]\n\n##### 2A. Exemption for certain mining survey fees\n\n(1) A notification under section 9(3)(a)(i) of the Act in relation to prescribed retained money to which this regulation applies, need not, if that information cannot reasonably be ascertained, set out —\n\n(a) the name of the person on whose behalf the money is held or to whom it is liable to be paid;\n\n(b) the address of the owner of the money; and\n\n(c) the date on which the holder came into possession of the money.\n\n(2) This regulation applies to prescribed retained money that —\n\n(a) was paid by the owner to the Director General of Mines (as defined in the *Mining Act 1978*) as a survey fee under section 199 of the *Mining Act 1904* 2 during the period beginning on 1 July 1980 and ending on 31 December 1981; and\n\n(b) was paid by the Director General of Mines, under section 28 of the *Audit Act 1904* 3, to the Treasurer to be placed to the credit of the Trust Account established by that Act.\n\n[Regulation 2A inserted: Gazette 20 Aug 1996 p. 4069‑70.]\n\n##### 2B. Exemption to allow voluntary payment of interest earned on patients trust account\n\n(1) For the purpose of enabling unclaimed money to which this regulation applies to be dealt with under section 13 of the Act, section 7(4)(a) of the Act is to be read as if it had been amended after “satisfied that” by inserting “, to the extent to which they can reasonably be ascertained,”.\n\n(2) This regulation applies to unclaimed money that was interest credited to the patients trust account prior to 30 June 1994.\n\n(3) In subregulation (2) —\n\npatients trust account means the trust account, called the “Hospital Patients’ Private Property Trust Account” held by the Health Department of Western Australia 4 with the Treasury, in which money was held on behalf of patients in various departmental hospitals and nursing homes.\n\n[Regulation 2B inserted: Gazette 11 Dec 1998 p. 6653.]\n\n##### 3. Notification to Treasurer of payment of unclaimed money or prescribed retained money\n\n(1) The additional matters that are to be included in a notification of a payment of unclaimed money (or prescribed retained money) are —\n\n(a) the name and address of the person who made the payment; and\n\n(b) the address of the place at which the money was handed over or to which it was sent.\n\n(2) A notification of a payment of unclaimed money or prescribed retained money is to be in the form of Form 2 in Schedule 1.\n\n##### 4. Advertising by Treasurer\n\n(1) The Treasurer is to advertise the particulars that are set out in subregulation (2) in respect of prescribed retained money —\n\n(a) that is notified to the Treasurer in the year concerned under section 9(3)(a) of the Act and of which no notification has been received under section 9(3)(b) of the Act; or\n\n(b) that is notified to the Treasurer in the year concerned otherwise than under section 9(3)(a) of the Act.\n\n(2) To the extent that they are known to the Treasurer, the additional particulars that are to be included in an advertisement under section 11 of the Act are, in respect of notifications to the Treasurer or payments received in the Treasury —\n\n(a) the name and address of the person who made the notification or payment;\n\n(b) the stated name and address of the owner of the money;\n\n(c) a brief description of the stated manner in which the person making the notification or payment came into possession of the money; and\n\n(d) the stated date on which that person came into possession of the money.\n\n(3) Despite subregulations (1) and (2), if the Treasurer considers that the publication of —\n\n(a) the name or address of the person who made the notification or payment;\n\n(b) the stated address of the owner of the money; or\n\n(c) the description required by subregulation (2)(c),\n\nwould be likely to reveal information about the owner that may be private or confidential, the Treasurer is not required to publish it.\n\n[Regulation 4 amended: Gazette 27 May 1994 p. 2244‑5.]\n\n##### 4A. Exemption from advertising for small amounts\n\n(1) An advertisement under section 11(1) of the Act need not set out the amount and prescribed particulars of money notified to the Treasurer or received in the Treasury if —\n\n(a) the amount of the money is less than $100; and\n\n(b) the advertisement —\n\n(i) sets out the name of the person who made the notification or payment;\n\n(ii) states that details of the money are included in a list kept under subregulation (2)(a); and\n\n(iii) sets out the places where that list is available for public inspection.\n\n(2) The Treasurer must —\n\n(a) in respect of each advertisement under subregulation (1), keep a list of the money to which the advertisement relates; and\n\n(b) make that list available for public inspection, without charge, at such places as the Treasurer considers appropriate.\n\n(3) To the extent that they are known to the Treasurer, the following particulars of notifications to the Treasurer and payments received in the Treasury are to be included in a list kept under subregulation (2)(a) —\n\n(a) the name and address of the owner of the money;\n\n(b) the amount of the money;\n\n(c) the name and address of the person who made the notification or payment;\n\n(d) a brief description of the manner in which that person came into possession of the money; and\n\n(e) the date on which that person came into possession of the money.\n\n[Regulation 4A inserted: Gazette 20 Aug 1996 p. 4070.]\n\n##### 5. Money paid to Treasury under section 13\n\nA person making a payment under section 13 of the Act is to submit with the payment a statement in the form of Form 3 in Schedule 1.\n\n##### 6. Money paid to Treasurer under section 14\n\nA person paying unclaimed money or prescribed retained money to the Treasurer under section 14 of the Act is, when making the payment, to specify the item number of the entry in the *Gazette* advertisement under section 11 of the Act in respect of which the payment is being made.\n\n##### 7. Payment of interest\n\nFor the purposes of section 16 of the Act, the prescribed amount is $500.\n\nSchedule 1\n\n**Forms**\n\n**FORM 1**\n\n(Reg. 2(3))\n\n*UNCLAIMED MONEY ACT 1990*\n\n**NOTIFICATION TO TREASURER OF UNCLAIMED MONEY**\n\n**OR PRESCRIBED RETAINED MONEY HELD**\n\nName of holder ......................................................................................................\n\nAddress ..................................................................................................................\n\nIf the particulars of the person to whom or the place to which enquiries about the money should be directed are different from the particulars given above, please specify particulars of the different person and/or place\n\n.................................................................................................................................\n\n.................................................................................................................................\n\n| Name and (Last Known) Address of Owner of the Money | Amount of Money Held | Date When Holder Came Into Possession of the Money | Manner in Which Holder Came Into Possession of the Money |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- |\n|  |  |  |  |\n\n\nI certify that the above information is correct.\n\n...................................................................\n\n(Signature of holder or his/her legal personal representative (where the latter, name and address to be shown))\n\n**FORM 2**\n\n(Reg. 3(2))\n\n*UNCLAIMED MONEY ACT 1990*\n\n**NOTIFICATION TO TREASURER OF PAYMENT OF UNCLAIMED**\n\n**MONEY OR PRESCRIBED RETAINED MONEY**\n\n1. Name and address of person who made the payment .......................................  \n...........................................................................................................................\n\n2. Amount of money paid .....................................................................................\n\n3. Name of person to whom the payment was made ............................................  \n...........................................................................................................................\n\n4. Address at which the money was handed over or to which it was sent ............  \n...........................................................................................................................\n\n5. Date of the payment ..........................................................................................\n\nI certify that the above information is correct.\n\n...................................................................\n\n(Signature of payer or his/her legal personal representative (where the latter, name and address to be shown))\n\n**FORM 3**\n\n(Reg. 5)\n\n*UNCLAIMED MONEY ACT 1990*\n\n**PAYMENT TO TREASURY UNDER SECTION 13**\n\n1. Name and address of person making the payment ...........................................  \n...........................................................................................................................\n\n2. Amount of payment ..........................................................................................\n\n3. Name and (last known) address of owner of the money ..................................  \n...........................................................................................................................\n\n4. Date when person making the payment came into possession of the money ...  \n......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................\n\n5. Manner in which person making the payment came into possession of the money ...............................................................................................................  \n...........................................................................................................................\n\n6. If applicable, details of unfulfilled obligations in respect of the money being paid ...................................................................................................................  \n...........................................................................................................................\n\n7. If applicable, the amount of the balance of money to be paid to owner ...........  \n...........................................................................................................................\n\nI certify that the above information is correct.\n\n...................................................................\n\n(Signature of payer or his/her legal personal representative (where the latter, name and address to be shown)).\n\nNotes\n\n1 This reprint is a compilation as at 18 July 2003 of the *Unclaimed Money Regulations 1991* and includes the amendments made by the other written laws referred to in the following table. The table also contains information about this reprint.\n\nCompilation table\n\n| **Citation** | **Gazettal** | **Commencement** |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| *Unclaimed Money Regulations 1991* | 12 Apr 1991 p. 1664‑6 | 12 Apr 1991 |\n| *Unclaimed Money Amendment Regulations 1994* | 27 May 1994 p. 2244‑5 | 27 May 1994 |\n| *Unclaimed Money Amendment Regulations 1996* | 20 Aug 1996 p. 4069‑70 | 20 Aug 1996 |\n| *Unclaimed Money Amendment Regulations 1998* | 11 Dec 1998 p. 6653 | 11 Dec 1998 |\n| **Reprint 1: The *Unclaimed Money Regulations 1991* as at 18 Jul 2003**    (includes amendments listed above) | | |\n\n\n2 Repealed by the *Mining Act 1978*.\n\n3 Repealed by the *Financial Administration and Audit Act 1985*.\n\n4 Under the *Alteration of Statutory Designations Order (No. 3) 2001* references to the former Health Department of WA are to be read as references to the Department of Health.\n\nDefined terms\n\n*[This is a list of terms defined and the provisions where they are defined. The list is not part of the law.]*\n\n**Defined term Provision(s)**\n\npatients trust account 2B(3)\n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"summary":{"complexity_score":1,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"Scope cannot be assessed as the legislative text was not retrievable from the provided source. The page appears to have been moved or removed during a website upgrade by the Western Australian government."},"complexity_factors":["No legislative text was provided — the source URL returned a 'page not available' error","Analysis is impossible without access to the actual regulatory content","Only the title and a broken-link error message were available for review"],"plain_english_summary":"A Western Australian regulation under a parent Act that sets rules for how organisations must handle, report and transfer money that has gone unclaimed. It affects banks, insurers, companies and similar holders of dormant funds, and matters to individuals who may be owed money and to businesses required to locate claimants or remit funds to the government."},"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"A positive credit balance is required for all requests, including BYOK, so fallback providers remain available. Add credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up to continue.","source":"analysis-cron"},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[],"contradictions":[]},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The regulations remain focused on their original purpose: operational details for reporting and transferring unclaimed money to the Treasurer. The amendments added specific exemptions for historical edge cases (mining survey fees from 1980-81, hospital trust account interest pre-1994) and streamlined advertising for small amounts, but these are refinements rather than scope expansion."},"complexity_factors":["Short length (7 regulations plus schedule)","Only 1 defined term ('patients trust account')","Minimal cross-referencing—primarily references to sections of the parent Act (Unclaimed Money Act 1990)","Simple conditional logic (if/then structures in regulations 2A, 4, 4A)","Straightforward administrative procedures with clear deadlines and form requirements","Some historical patching for specific legacy issues (1980s mining fees, 1994 hospital accounts)"],"plain_english_summary":"These regulations set out the practical rules for how unclaimed money is reported, advertised, and paid to the Western Australian government under the Unclaimed Money Act 1990.\n\n**What this covers:**\n- **Unclaimed money** is cash held by businesses or organisations (like banks, hospitals, or mining departments) that belongs to someone they can't find.\n- **Prescribed retained money** is a specific type of unclaimed money defined in the main Act.\n\n**Key requirements:**\n- **Reporting deadlines:** Holders must notify the Treasurer by 31 January each year about money that became unclaimed in the previous year (with a special deadline for certain old mining survey fees).\n- **What to report:** Names, addresses, amounts, how the money was obtained, and when it was received.\n- **Forms:** Specific forms (Forms 1, 2, and 3 in Schedule 1) must be used for notifications and payments.\n- **Advertising:** The Treasurer must publish details of unclaimed money so owners can find it, but can keep private details confidential if publishing them would breach privacy. Small amounts under $100 don't need full details in the newspaper—just a reference to a public list.\n- **Interest:** Interest is only paid to claimants if the amount is $500 or more.\n\n**Special exemptions:**\n- Old mining survey fees from 1980-1981 don't need full owner details if they can't be reasonably found.\n- Interest earned on old hospital patients' trust accounts (before 1994) can be handled more flexibly regarding missing information.\n\n**Who this affects:** Any business, government department, or organisation holding money that belongs to missing owners in Western Australia."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"Amendments since the original 1991 regulations have been incremental and confined to procedural clarifications and narrow exemptions (notably the mining-survey-fee exemption reg 2A, the historical patients’ trust interest exemption reg 2B, and the small‑amount advertising exemption reg 4A). The core scope remains the same: prescribe notification content and form, set advertisement and listing procedures, and regulate payment/reporting mechanics under the Unclaimed Money Act. The additions adjust administration for specific historical or low‑value cases rather than expanding the regulatory remit."},"complexity_factors":["7 substantive regulations (regs 1–7) plus Schedule 1 containing 3 prescribed forms","Simple, short provisions — largely procedural and form-based rather than substantive law","Several targeted amendments/inserts (regs 2A, 2B, 4A) that add narrow exceptions and transitional matters","Multiple cross‑references to sections of the Unclaimed Money Act (not in this file) — regs refer to sections 7, 9, 11, 13, 14 and 16 of the principal Act","Discretionary carve-outs: Treasurer may withhold publication of private/confidential particulars (reg 4(3))","Conditional logic for exemptions: reg 2A and reg 2B apply only to narrowly defined historical categories (dates and institutional definitions)","Administrative conditions such as deadlines, prescribed amounts and Gazette item‑number requirements (reg 2(1), reg 7, reg 6)","Lists and publication mechanics for small amounts require places for public inspection, adding operational detail (reg 4A(2))","Few technical defined terms in these regulations (only one defined term listed: patients trust account in reg 2B(3))"],"plain_english_summary":"**What this instrument does (mechanics)**\n\n- Sets the practical rules that implement parts of the Unclaimed Money Act. It tells holders and payers of unclaimed money how and when to tell the Treasurer about money that appears to be unclaimed, what information must be provided, the forms to use, and how the Treasurer must advertise or list such items (regs 2–6, Schedule 1).\n- Fixes deadlines for notification: ordinarily a notification about “prescribed retained money” must be made by 31 January following the year the money became prescribed retained money (reg 2(1)). One historical exception is separately addressed (reg 2(1a)).\n- Specifies the content and format of notifications and payments by prescribing three forms (Forms 1–3 in Schedule 1) and the particulars that must be included (reg 2(2)–(3), reg 3(1)–(2), reg 5).\n- Requires the Treasurer to advertise particulars of notified or received unclaimed/prescribed retained money, and lists the particulars to be published to the extent they are known (reg 4(1)–(2)). The Treasurer may withhold publication where publication would likely reveal private or confidential information (reg 4(3)).\n- Allows the Treasurer not to include amounts under $100 in the public advertisement and instead place them on a publicly inspectable list (reg 4A). That list must include specified particulars and be available for inspection without charge (reg 4A(2)–(3)).\n- Provides narrow, situational exemptions permitting notification without certain owner-identifying particulars where those particulars cannot reasonably be ascertained (reg 2A — a historical mining-survey-fee category) and allowing old interest credited to a hospital patients’ trust account to be dealt with despite limited ascertainability (reg 2B).\n- Requires that when someone pays unclaimed money under the Act they submit the prescribed statement (Form 3) (reg 5), and when paying money to the Treasurer under section 14 the payer must specify the Gazette item number the payment relates to (reg 6).\n- Prescribes the amount used for the Act’s interest-payment rule: $500 (reg 7).\n\n**Who it affects**\n\n- Holders of unclaimed money (banks, businesses, government departments, trustees, and other custodians): they have notification obligations, must use the prescribed forms, meet the notification deadline, and may have to advertise or provide particulars (regs 2–5, Schedule 1).\n- Persons paying money to Treasury or the Treasurer: they must provide specified statements and identify the Gazette item if paying under section 14 (regs 5–6).\n- The Treasurer and Treasury staff: they must publish advertisements and/or keep and make available lists, exercise discretion about withholding sensitive particulars, and process payments (regs 4, 4A, 6).\n- Owners of unclaimed money: the rules govern how their identities, addresses and amounts are publicised and the mechanisms by which their money may be paid into or out of Treasury (regs 2–4A).\n\n**Why it matters (stated purpose and practical effects)**\n\n- The regulations translate statutory duties into operational requirements: they standardise what information is reported, when, and on what form so Treasury can collect, publicise and, where appropriate, pay out unclaimed money (regs 2–5, Schedule 1).\n- They balance two administrative objectives claimed in the instrument: (a) enable identification and possible return of money to owners by publicising particulars (reg 4), and (b) reduce administrative burden where owner identification is realistically impossible (narrow exemptions in regs 2A and 2B) or where amounts are small (reg 4A).\n\n**Costs, incentives and trade-offs (practical testing of the measure)**\n\n- Who pays: the immediate compliance cost falls on holders/payers who must gather particulars, complete the prescribed forms, meet deadlines and (where required) publish or provide information for advertising. The Treasurer bears publication and record-keeping costs (regs 2–5, 4, 4A).\n- Administrative burden and record-keeping: holders need systems to collect and retain owner details and the date and manner they came into possession of money. The regulations give a specific format and content requirement that creates predictable compliance steps (Schedule 1; regs 2–3, 5).\n- Privacy vs discoverability trade-off: the Treasurer must advertise particulars to help owners find money (reg 4), but may withhold particulars that would likely reveal private/confidential information (reg 4(3)). That discretion reduces privacy risk but can reduce the utility of advertising for owners in some cases.\n- Small-value efficiency: amounts under $100 are exempted from full advertising; instead a public list must be kept and made available (reg 4A). That lowers advertising costs but concentrates the discovery burden on owners who must inspect the list in person or at the listed locations.\n- Narrow historical exemptions: regs 2A and 2B excuse the supply of certain owner particulars where they cannot reasonably be ascertained and apply to specific historical categories (mining survey fees paid 1980–81; interest on a hospital patients’ trust account credited before 30 June 1994). These reduce compliance costs where records are deficient, but they also limit the public information available for owner discovery for those narrow categories.\n- Bureaucratic discretion and operational risk: the Treasurer has discretion to withhold information on privacy grounds (reg 4(3)) and to determine where the public list is available (reg 4A(2)(b)). Those discretionary choices affect discoverability and require Treasury resourcing and record-management.\n\n**Concrete behavioural effects**\n\n- Holders will need to adopt the prescribed forms and deadlines and keep sufficient records to populate those forms (regs 2–5; Schedule 1).\n- The Treasurer will advertise items above the small‑amount threshold or keep lists for smaller items and exercise discretion about sensitive particulars (reg 4, reg 4A).\n- Owners of smaller amounts may need to check Treasury-held lists at specified locations to find their money rather than relying on newspaper advertisements (reg 4A(1)–(2)).\n\n**Key provisions cited**: regs 2–7, Schedule 1 (Forms 1–3), and the inserted exemptions regs 2A and 2B; small-amount rule reg 4A."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/unclaimed-money-regulations-1991","history":"/api/acts/unclaimed-money-regulations-1991/history","analysis":"/api/acts/unclaimed-money-regulations-1991/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/unclaimed-money-regulations-1991/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/unclaimed-money-regulations-1991/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/unclaimed-money-regulations-1991/documents"}}