The Queensland pool safety register is a public record, kept by the Queensland Building and Construction Commission, of pools that have had a pool safety certificate issued. Anyone can search it. Buyers do, and so do insurers.
Every residential pool in Queensland has to be registered with the QBCC. That includes pools on common property, which is where bodies corporate come in.
What the register holds
Each entry ties a pool to a property and records whether a current certificate exists. It is a compliance record rather than an inspection report, so it will not tell you what was found, only whether the pool passed and when.
Because it is public, a lapsed certificate on a shared pool is visible to anyone who looks. That matters more for a scheme than for a house, since a prospective buyer in any lot can see it.
How long a certificate lasts
Validity depends on whether the pool is shared:
- Shared pools, which covers most body corporate schemes, are certified for one year.
- Non-shared pools, typically a single dwelling, are certified for two years.
A newly built pool does not need a separate certificate straight away. The final inspection certificate or certificate of classification from the building certifier serves the same purpose, for the same one and two year periods.
One year is short.
A committee that treats pool certification as an occasional job will be out of compliance for part of most years without noticing, which is the single most common failure we see.
Who carries the obligation in a scheme
Where the pool is on common property, the body corporate holds it. Not the caretaker, not the letting agent, and not individual lot owners.
There is a second trigger that catches committees out. Where a shared pool serves long-term accommodation, a certificate has to be in place within 90 days of entering into the accommodation agreement.
What a licensed inspector checks
Licensed pool safety inspectors assess the barrier against the current standard. In practice the recurring failures are:
- gates that do not self-close and self-latch from any position
- latches and hinges that have stiffened or worn
- climbable objects placed near the fence after it was built, such as pot plants, bins, benches or an air conditioning unit
- vegetation that has grown into a climbable form
- missing, faded or badly positioned CPR signage
Detail on each of these is in our guide to pool barrier requirements on common property, and the signage rules are set out under CPR signs in Queensland pool areas.
Selling a lot with a shared pool
Where a property with a pool is sold, the seller has to provide a pool safety certificate before settlement, or the buyer may accept a Notice of No Pool Safety Certificate instead. A copy of that notice goes to the QBCC at the same time.
Accepting the notice moves the problem rather than solving it.
The buyer then has 90 days from settlement to obtain a certificate, and may carry the cost of any rectification the contract did not deal with.
For a scheme this matters because the certificate covers the shared pool, not the individual lot. One lapsed certificate can hold up sales across the whole complex, and the committee will hear about it from several owners at once.
Which properties this applies to
This obligation is broader than residential unit blocks. It reaches caravan parks, boarding houses, guest houses, hostels, lodging houses, and pools at retail premises, car parks, warehouses and factories.
Staying on the register
Put the expiry in the same annual cycle as fire safety and work health and safety, and inspect on the committee’s timetable rather than a buyer’s. Discovering that a gate needs replacing while a settlement waits on it costs more than the same work scheduled three months out.
Seymour Consultants carries out pool barrier inspections and certification for bodies corporate across Queensland. Call 07 5573 4011 or request a quote.
