Lost & Found Services in Virginia

Virginia has never passed one general law spelling out what a finder must do with lost personal property. Instead, separate Code sections cover separate holders, cities and counties, state police, and public colleges, each with its own hold periods and disposal rules. Common law fills the gaps, and courts generally still expect a finder to make reasonable efforts to locate the true owner before treating an item as their own.

When a city or county police department ends up holding property that is never claimed, the locality can sell it. Once the sale happens, the clock is limited, no claim, suit, or proceeding to recover the funds or the property can be brought more than three years from the date of that sale, so waiting too long to check back with a department can close the door for good.

Property that ends up in the hands of the Virginia State Police is handled under a separate section that specifically exempts State Police from the general Disposition of Unclaimed Property Act. In practice this means the agency that recovered your item, a local department versus State Police, can matter for how and when it is disposed of if unclaimed.

If your item is found on a Virginia college or university campus, a different section applies. The institution must hold lost or abandoned property for at least 120 days before selling it, and if it is sold, the net proceeds must then be held for at least 90 more days so the rightful owner still has a window to come forward and claim the value.

Virginia criminal law does not treat finding something as a free pass to keep it. Petit larceny is a Class 1 misdemeanor, punishable by up to twelve months in jail and a fine of up to $2,500, and knowingly holding onto property you know belongs to someone else, or receiving goods you know were stolen under Va. Code 18.2-108, can expose a finder to prosecution rather than ownership.