Owners are required to have their safety barriers inspected and to lodge a certificate of barrier compliance with their council. If a safety barrier is not compliant, it is the owner’s responsibility to make the barrier compliant.
After your swimming pool or spa has been registered and inspected, you will receive a certificate of barrier compliance from your building surveyor or inspector.
When to lodge your certificate
Certificates of barrier compliance must be lodged by a particular due date - the date is based on the construction date of the pool/spa.
Installed before April 1991
Lodge your certificate by 1 June 2022.
The following checklists will help you assess the safety of your barrier. The checklists are based on the relevant barrier standard associated with the date that the pool or spa was installed.
If you are having any work done on an existing safety barrier, a permit may need to be issued to alter the barrier. Work to alter an existing barrier will need to comply with the current Regulations. Check with your local council or building surveyor for advice.
Installed between 8 April 1991 and 30 April 2010
Lodge your certificate by 1 June 2023.
The following checklist will help you assess the safety of your barrier. The checklist is based on the relevant barrier standard associated with the date that the pool or spa was installed.
If you are having any work done on an existing safety barrier, a permit may need to be issued to alter the barrier. Work to alter an existing barrier will need to comply with the current Regulations. Check with your local council or building surveyor for advice.
Installed from 1 May 2010
Lodge your certificate by 1 June 2024.
The following checklist will help you assess the safety of your barrier. The checklist is based on the relevant barrier standard associated with the date that the pool or spa was installed.
If you are having any work done on an existing safety barrier, a permit may need to be issued to alter the barrier. Work to alter an existing barrier will need to comply with the current Regulations. Check with your local council or building surveyor for advice.
Installed after 1 November 2020
Your first certificate must be lodged within 30 days of the date of issue of the certificate.
This certificate must accompany your application for registration.
The following checklist will help you assess the safety of your barrier. The checklist is based on the relevant barrier standard associated with the date that the pool or spa was installed.
If you are having any work done on an existing safety barrier, a permit may need to be issued to alter the barrier. Work to alter an existing barrier will need to comply with the current Regulations. Check with your local council or building surveyor for advice.
How to lodge your certificate
What happens next?
Compliance certificates
Following the lodgement of your certificate, you will be asked to pay the lodgement fee. Once paid, Council will send you confirmation that your Certificate has been accepted and will advise when your next Certificate is due.
Certificates are to be lodged every four years.
Non-compliance certificates
After lodging the certificate of non-compliance online, an invoice will be emailed to the pool/spa owner for payment. When the council receives the certificate of barrier non-compliance, the municipal building surveyor will issue either:
- a 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 A barrier improvement notice may be issued by a municipal building surveyor after the council receives a certificate of barrier non-compliance. A barrier improvement notice is usually issued for minor non-compliance matters. The notice specifies what you must fix to make the barrier compliant, as well as the period that you must take this action within.
For more information, visit the Victorian Building Authority website.