A Luqatah should not be disposed of before the elapse of a complete year
11-3-2010 | IslamWeb
Question:
before 2 years i found a valuable digital electric good.in a building i saw the owner the owner forgot it.when i found the item i try find owner to give him but i unable. then i checked the item for any name, address but nothing no way to contact him .only photos of him he is foreigner i dint no Muslim or not .my friend tell me to sell it and give money to charity.but that item is little bit old and without one part when i found it,so i want to buy that part to proper working or but now it working some how or i want to sell very less value than its original value what i can do now
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
If you made every possible effort to reach the owner of the equipment that you have at hand now and you are unable to find him and you lost hope in that, then the found item takes the ruling of Luqatah (a lost and found property). This necessitates knowing what distinguishes the item from other (similar) items, and making the item known to the public by pasting advertisements in public places and in markets. The local newspapers today may fulfill the purpose of what we mentioned.
Moreover, a lost and found property is considered a trust in the hands of the person who found it but he does not guarantee it unless he caused its damage or was negligent. If its owner comes (one day) and gives its description that distinguishes it from other items, then it should be given to him.
Thus, if a whole year elapses from the day the item was made known to the public and its owner did not show up, then it becomes permissible for the person who found it to give it in charity or benefit from it, whether he is rich or poor.
However, if its owner comes at any time, he may agree to it being given in charity [on his behalf] or he may ask to take it back, and the finder has either to give it back to him or pay its price to him.
In any case, before you become despaired that the owner of the equipment comes back one day, and before the elapse of a complete year, you are not permitted to dispose of it or sell it, or to benefit from it by using it and the like. For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 88519.