Property Seizure and Delivery Order WA: Recovering Specific Goods After a Judgment
Most enforcement in Western Australia is about money — garnishing wages, freezing bank accounts, auctioning goods. But sometimes the judgment orders the return of a specific item: a vehicle, equipment, livestock, or possession of property. That is where the Property Seizure and Delivery Order comes in.
What a PSDO Does
A Property Seizure and Delivery Order (PSDO) under Part 5 of the Civil Judgments Enforcement Act 2004 authorises a bailiff to seize specific goods or property and deliver them to the person the court says is entitled to them. Unlike a Property Seizure and Sale Order (PSSO), which sells assets to pay a debt, a PSDO returns the thing itself.
Common situations where a PSDO applies:
- A tenant who kept property belonging to the landlord (or vice versa) after a tenancy ended
- Equipment held by a business partner who lost a contractual dispute
- Goods wrongfully detained after a sale fell through
How to Apply
You file CJE Form 6 through the eCourts Portal, selecting the PSDO option. The bailiff fee for executing a PSDO is $216. If real property is involved, the maximum commission is $585.
The court issues the order, and a bailiff physically attends the location where the goods are held, seizes them, and delivers them to you.
PSDO vs PSSO: Which One
The distinction is simple. If the judgment says the other side must return specific property to you, you need a PSDO. If the judgment says the other side owes you money and you want to seize their assets to pay the debt, you need a PSSO.
If the judgment includes an alternative monetary remedy, any monetary enforcement must be based on that term. A PSDO itself recovers specific property; a PSSO is used to enforce a money judgment.
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What If the Goods Are Gone
A PSDO only works if the goods still exist and can be located. If the debtor has sold, destroyed or lost the property, the bailiff cannot deliver what is not there. The PSDO does not automatically convert into a money judgment; monetary enforcement requires a money judgment.
The WA Judgment Enforcement Guide covers PSDOs alongside every other enforcement mechanism available in the Magistrates Court, with the forms, fees and practical steps for each.
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