Don’t drown in the legislative reform: Ensure your pool is compliant

The changes introduced by the Swimming Pools (Amendment) Act 2012 have again been postponed, with owners corporations now having until 29 April 2016 to ensure their swimming pools are the subject of a certificate of compliance if any owner wishes to sell or lease their unit. The changes were supposed to have been implemented at the end of April this year.

Owners corporations can choose either to wait for their local council to inspect their pool on request or to ask a private certifier to do so. With wait times for council inspectors reported to be up to several months, and many pools failing initial inspections, an owners corporation may prefer to engage a private certifier to inspect their pool and issue a certificate of compliance. Councils can charge up to $150 for inspection of pools (including spot-checks resulting from complaints relating to a swimming pool’s compliance), so the issue of cost may not be a strong deterrent in electing to use a private certifier rather than Council.

Even if owners are not planning to lease or sell their units in complexes with pools, the owners corporation is required to register the pool on the Swimming Pool Register. This requires a self-assessment in relation to the pool’s compliance with the relevant safety considerations set out by Australian standards and the legislation. Pools should have been registered from 2013 on the Swimming Pool Register however some may not have been registered.

The Swimming Pool Register can be accessed at www.swimmingpoolregister.nsw.gov.au.

For more information on swimming pool compliance, please contact our Newcastle or Sydney offices.