Residential pool safety

The Building (Pools) Amendment Act 2016 repealed the Fencing of Swimming Pools Act 1987 and inserted requirements for residential pool safety in the Building Act 2004.

On this page

The requirements

The main changes include:

• residential swimming pool barriers must be inspected every three years
• safety covers can be used as barriers for spa pools and hot tubs
• territorial authorities will have better tools to enforce pool barrier requirements, including notices to fix and infringement notices.

About the Amendment Act

The Amendment Act created new Building Code Clause F9 Restricting access to residential pools. We have published 2 Acceptable Solutions for Clause F9.

You can read the Acceptable Solutions and more about restricting access to residential pools on the Building Performance website (external link) .

Pool notices

From 1 September 2017 pool manufacturers and retailers must supply notices with pools. The Building (Pool Manufacturers and Retailers) notice 2017 sets out the requirements for the notices.

Pool inspections

The Building (Pools) Regulations 2016 set out the fees payable by independently qualified pool inspectors and the certificate they will issue if a pool has compliant barriers.

Additional information

The following are available on the Legislation website:

Building and construction closed consultations has information on our previous swimming pool safety proposals.