POOL & SPA BARRIER INSPECTIONS process

Swimming pool barriers council certificate and pool fence inspections : 

When the council receives the certificate, they will send you a written notice, which confirms:

•the date the certificate for your pool barrier was lodged. 

•the date by which the next certificate is required to be lodged, which is four years after the previous certificate. 

You will need to pay a fee to the council when you lodge the certificate.

If it is determined that your safety barrier is not compliant, we can either:

1. immediately issue a certificate of barrier non-compliance. 
2. issue you a written notice specifying: 

• the matters that must be addressed to bring the pool barrier into compliance. 

• the period in which the barrier must be made compliant (within a maximum of 60 days). 

• the date and time we intend to re-inspect the barrier. 

After re-inspection, if it is determined that the pool barrier is compliant, we will issue a certificate of barrier compliance, which you must then lodge with council.

POOL FENCE INSPECTIONS & NON COMPLIANCE

If the pool barrier remains non-compliant, but we are satisfied that progress has been made towards bringing the swimming pool barriers into compliance, we may allow you an additional seven days to rectify the barrier. Otherwise, we will issue a certificate of barrier non-compliance. 

If we issue a certificate of barrier non-compliance, we will lodge it with the relevant 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.  

An inspector must immediately issue a certificate of swimming pool barrier non-compliance if:

•the barrier is not capable of being made compliant or the owner is unlikely to bring the barrier into compliance with the applicable barrier standard within 60 days. 

•the non-compliance of the barrier poses a significant and immediate risk to life or safety. •the barrier is non-compliant in any of the following ways: 

1. a door or gate, when closed, can be opened by a person who is unable to reach the opening mechanism for that door or gate. 
2. a door or gate forming part of the barrier is unable to be completely closed. 
3. any part of the barrier is less than one metre in height, measured above ground level from the approach side.  

What happens next:

When your council receives the certificate of pool barrier non-compliance, the municipal building surveyor will issue either:

•a pool barrier improvement notice. 

•a notice or order under the Building Act 1993 (if the municipal building surveyor considers that this is appropriate, depending on the nature of the non-compliance). 

Barrier improvement notices & pool fence inspections :

A pool barrier improvement notice may be issued by a municipal building surveyor after the council receives a certificate of swimming pool barriers non-compliance. A pool barrier improvement notice is usually issued for minor non-compliance matters. The notice specifies what you must fix to make the pool barrier compliant, as well as the period that you must take this action within.