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NEW SWIMMING POOL RULES

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Henry Packham

On 29th April 2015, the amendments to the  Swimming Pools Act 1992 come into effect. These establish the following:

  1. There is an online register of pools;
  2. Periodic inspections of pools by council inspectors;
  3. Requirements for Contract for sale and leases.

Critically for owners wanting to sell their property with a swimming pool will need to have a certificate for their pool before they sell it. This has to be attached to the Contract for sale like a number of other statutory certificates required as part of the conveyancing process.

So if you are intending to sell your property and it has a pool you should make arrangements to get a certificate. Expect your pool to fail at the first inspection as 95% of pools fail initially. There is an undersupply of inspectors to identify the problems and contractors to fix the problems to make the pools comply. So if you are thinking of selling soon and you have a pool it is time to move on the issue.

If you are a landlord of a property that has a pool the same considerations apply and the new standard form of lease requires you to have a certificate from an inspector stating the pool to be compliant. Failure to have the certificate can result in the imposition of a penalty notice thereby adding to the joys of being a landlord.

If you are an owner at a Strata Act building your manager should be attending to the issue but it would be good to be sure.

About 8 children are drowned in private swimming pools each year although there was a big increase in 2013. The most common defect in pools is the self-closing latch on the gate and it will take 3-4 months to get compliant.

http://www.ombo.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/5752/IP_CDRT01_Private-Swimming-Pools.pdf

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Henry Packham
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