It is mandatory for owners of land where a swimming pool or spa is located to register their pool or spa with the relevant council.
Owners are also required to have their safety barriers inspected and to lodge a certificate of barrier compliance with council. If a safety barrier is not compliant, it is the owner’s responsibility to make the barrier compliant.
The laws apply to swimming pools and spas that are capable of holding more than 30cm of water.
This includes permanent pools, above-ground pools, indoor pools, hot tubs, bathing or wading pools and relocatable pools, including inflatable pools.
Once your swimming pool or spa is registered, you need to arrange an inspection of the safety barrier to determine if it complies with the applicable barrier standard.
An inspection of your pool or spa barrier must be carried out by one of the following:
You can search for a registered building practitioner authorised to carry out inspections and certification using the Find a practitioner tool.
Certificate of barrier compliance
If the inspector determines that your safety barrier complies with the applicable barrier standard, they will issue a certificate of barrier compliance. As the owner of the land with the pool or spa, you must lodge this certificate with your council within 30 days of the date of issue of the certificate. Contact the relevant council for more information.
When the council receives the certificate, they will send you written confirmation of:
You will need to pay a fee to the council when you lodge the certificate.
Non-compliant barriers
If the inspector determines your safety barrier is not compliant, they can either:
After re-inspection, if the inspector determines the pool barrier is compliant, they will issue a certificate of barrier compliance, which you must then lodge with council.
If the barrier remains non-compliant but the inspector is satisfied you have made progress towards making it compliant, they may give you seven more days to rectify the barrier. Otherwise, they will issue a certificate of barrier non-compliance.
If an inspector issues a certificate of barrier non-compliance, they will lodge it with the council and provide you with a copy. The council will notify you and you will have to pay a fee by the due date specified in the notice.
What happens next
When the council receives the certificate of barrier non-compliance, the municipal building surveyor will issue either:
The municipal building surveyor may issue a barrier improvement notice after council receives a certificate of barrier non-compliance. A barrier improvement notice is usually issued for minor non-compliances. The notice will specify what you must fix to make the barrier compliant, and when you need to do this by.
There is no set fee for a safety barrier inspection. We recommend obtaining quotes from at least two practitioners before you proceed with the inspection.
Fees are applicable for lodging a certificate of barrier compliance and a certificate of barrier non-compliance with council. If you fail to lodge a certificate or comply with a barrier improvement noticed by the date specified, you may incur penalties.
Owners of pools or spas with barriers that require multiple inspections before being certified as compliant will likely face higher costs than those whose barrier is certified as compliant after the first inspection.
