Old pool fence rules: what each date lets it keep

A date is a rule

An old pool is not simply illegal, and it is not simply fine. Several states and territories date an old pool’s barrier by when it was built or approved; each state’s page below says how, and three of those pages say nothing of a date. In NSW, altering the barrier can move an old pool onto the current standard, and Does renovating the pool re-set today’s rules, and what paper follows? is about that event.

Before anything changes, each state’s own rule says what a pool may keep. Every date below belongs to the state or territory named beside it, and belongs to no other.

New South Wales: three standards, chosen by construction date

NSW Fair Trading says there are three different Pool Safety Standards that apply in NSW, depending on when the pool was constructed. The current one, AS1926.1‑2012, covers safety barriers for swimming pools constructed after 1 May 2013.

Whatever standard a pool sits under, its owner keeps the running duties. All swimming pool and spa owners must register the pool or spa on the Swimming Pool Register, and a pool can be registered against the property address rather than the owner’s name. Owners must at all times keep the pool surrounded with a child-resistant safety barrier that separates it from any residential building and from any place adjoining the property, keep closed the doors and gates that provide access to the pool, and ensure the fences are designed, constructed, installed and maintained to comply with the relevant Australian Standards.

Registering a pool is not the same as a compliance check. NSW Fair Trading says compliance is assessed separately through inspections, and a council or a registered certifier can inspect the pool or spa. A certificate of compliance is valid for 3 years.

South Australia: 1 July 1993

SA.GOV.AU splits old pools at 1 July 1993. A pool built before that date may keep complying with the old Swimming Pools Safety Act 1972 while the property is not for sale. That Act requires the owner to ensure the pool is enclosed by a fence, wall or building to restrict access by young children.

A pool built on or after 1 July 1993 complies with the rules that were current when the application for construction was submitted, which the same page reads as the Development Act 1993 or the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Act 2016 and the Building Code of Australia, restricting access to the pool from the house, the garage, the street and any adjoining properties.

South Australia also names the paper that ends the exemption. If the property is sold after 1 October 2008, the child-safety barriers must comply with Ministerial Building Standard MBS 004 for pools built before 1 July 1993 before settlement. The standard itself is not reproduced on the SA.GOV.AU page; what it asks is stated by its name and its date, and no further.

Western Australia: a 2016 alternative, read with the doors rule

In Western Australia a pool or spa that went in before 1 May 2016 has an alternative: its safety barrier may comply with AS 1926.1‑1993 with amendment 1, while the child-resistant doors rules are left out of that alternative. The doors rule is the reason the exception matters: for an outdoor pool or spa, child-resistant doors are typically not allowed in the barrier unless the pool or spa was approved or put in before 5 November 2001.

Building approval is a separate duty: in Western Australia every swimming pool and spa needs one. After that, the local government inspects. Once a new pool or spa is finished, its barrier must be inspected by the local government within 30 days of the council learning the work is complete, whether the barrier is temporary or long term, and the council must inspect barriers afterwards too, to check they stay up to standard and are kept in order. Inspections may be no more than four years apart; some remote areas of the State are excluded.

The WA Government’s building approvals page puts figures on the inspections: an initial inspection charge of up to $312.00, and a periodic inspection program charge of up to $78.00 per financial year.

Tasmania: the barrier requirement begins in 1994

Building Standards Tasmania draws its line at 1994. In Tasmania, a pool or spa that holds 300mm of water or more has to have a pool safety barrier, and that requirement begins with pools and spas installed from 1994 onwards. For a pool built before that, the same page recommends rather than requires: owners of older pools are encouraged to install and keep a barrier, for their own protection and the community’s.

In Tasmania, a cover over the pool or spa does not count as a compliant barrier. Who may build the barrier in Tasmania, and who oversees the work, is a licence question, and the licence guide takes it up.

Queensland: the pool is on a register and the fence is ongoing

The QBCC’s list of owner duties names no construction date. As a pool owner, the QBCC says you must register your pool with the QBCC, have a pool fence that meets the pool barriers safety standard, and maintain your pool fence to meet that standard ongoing. The register and the standard travel with the place: a pool safety certificate is required if you are selling or leasing your property.

The owner’s daily duties are on the same page and they are written as habits: keep pool gates closed, and keep the pool area clear of objects that children could use to enter the pool unattended. These rules apply even to small inflatable pools if they can hold 300mm or more of water.

Victoria: every pool, registered, with a cycle attached

Victoria’s Building and Plumbing Commission states an obligation on every landowner: any pool or spa on the property has to be registered with the relevant local council, and a compliant safety barrier has to be in place, whether or not children live there. The threshold is the water rather than the type of pool: a pool or spa able to hold more than 30cm needs a compliant barrier, and the rule reaches every construction type, permanent, in-ground, above-ground, relocatable and inflatable.

Consumer Affairs Victoria puts the cycle in three steps for a pool owner: register it with the local council, have the pool safety barrier inspected every four years, and lodge a certificate with the council confirming compliance of the pool or spa barrier. A registered pool inspector, building inspector or building surveyor carries out the inspection on the Victorian commission’s page, and anything it turns up has to be put right.

The ACT: two dates, one transition, one deadline

The ACT’s home swimming pool safety reforms commenced on 1 May 2024 with a four-year transition period, and from 1 May 2028 the rules require home swimming pools and spas to have a safety barrier, such as a fence, that meets current standards.

Inside the transition, ACT Planning reads the pool’s own date twice. Swimming pools and spas built, altered or installed before 1 May 2013 are required to obtain a compliance certificate before 1 May 2028 and lodge it with Government within 30 days of issue. Those built, altered or installed on or after 1 May 2013 are not required to obtain a compliance certificate by that date or lodge it. The reason is written on the same page: any swimming pool or spa built, altered or installed since 1 May 2013 has been legally required to be compliant with the safety standards, so the main upgrades will be required for pools and spas built, altered or installed before 1 May 2013.

Spas carry a third date. If a spa was built, altered or installed on or after 1 May 2023, it requires a pool safety barrier compliant with the requirements in the building code at the time it was built, altered or installed.

The Northern Territory: no year rule on its page

The NT Government’s page on fencing and boundary disputes names rules for pool and spa fencing, and for a dividing fence between neighbours that does duty as part of a pool safety barrier. It does not date an old barrier. The territory’s sale and transfer paper is a different rule, set out in the guide on renovation, sale and transfer paper.

The dates, side by side

Read together, five of these rows carry a date; Queensland’s, Victoria’s and the Northern Territory’s carry none, and the ACT adds a deadline, 1 May 2028.

New South Wales: Three Pool Safety Standards by construction date; AS1926.1‑2012 for pools constructed after 1 May 2013.
South Australia: The 1972 Act kept by a pre-1 July 1993 pool while the property is not for sale; the rules current at the construction application for a pool built on or after 1 July 1993.
Western Australia: The older standard, AS 1926.1‑1993, as an alternative for a pool or spa that went in before 1 May 2016, with the child-resistant doors rules left out.
Tasmania: A barrier required for pools and spas holding 300mm of water or more, installed from 1994 onwards; recommended for older pools.
Queensland: No construction date in the owner’s duties: register, fence to the standard and maintain it ongoing.
Victoria: Every pool or spa registered with the council and compliant, with a barrier certificate every four years.
The ACT: The 1 May 2013 line for the compliance certificate, the 1 May 2023 line for spas, and the 1 May 2028 date for home pools and spas.
The Northern Territory: No dated old-barrier rule on the NT Government’s page.

What none of these rules does is fix a renovation. An alteration or a change of hands can re-set what the pool has to be, and Does renovating the pool re-set today’s rules, and what paper follows? follows it state by state. Where the barrier itself is re-built, the finished barrier will meet the inspection in What will the inspection check when the work is done?