Pool certificates for strata and body corporate

NSW's owners corporation and QLD's body corporate, not lot owners, hold the shared-pool certificate duty. QLD's cert expires in 1 year, not 2.

Last reviewed July 2026. Pool rules change and vary by council, so confirm the current requirement with your state authority before you act.

If a pool sits on common property in a strata or community titles scheme, the pool is not any single lot owner's job to fix. In NSW the owners corporation carries the compliance obligation. In QLD it is the body corporate. Strata managers and committee members usually find this out the hard way, when a lease falls over or a settlement stalls and nobody can locate the certificate.

This guide covers a pool or spa on common property, shared by residents of a strata scheme (NSW) or community titles scheme (QLD), for example a pool in the grounds of a unit block. A pool used by only one lot follows the standard state process covered in our main guide, not this one.

• Pool safety certificate Australia: complete owner guide

NSW: the owners corporation carries the obligation

In a strata or community scheme, all the lot owners jointly own any pool or spa on common property, and the owners corporation, not any individual owner, is responsible for making sure that pool complies with the Swimming Pools Act 1992.

That responsibility is a standing one, not something that only kicks in at a sale. Strata schemes with more than two lots must have any pool or spa on common property inspected by the local council every three years, on top of the certificate cycle. A standalone house is typically only inspected when an owner books it ahead of a sale or lease.

The owners corporation must also make sure the pool is registered and meets the same fencing, gate and signage rules as any other pool. Source: NSW Government, owning a pool or spa and safety rules for strata common property.

NSW: the sale-contract certificate rule works differently for strata

For a standalone house, NSW law requires a valid certificate of compliance, a certificate of non-compliance, or a relevant occupation certificate to be attached to the contract of sale. That specific requirement does not apply to a lot in a strata scheme or a community scheme where the scheme has more than two lots, or where the sale is for an off-the-plan property.

This reflects who is actually selling what. An individual lot owner sells their unit, not the common-property pool, and the compliance obligation for the pool itself sits with the owners corporation on an ongoing basis rather than being triggered lot by lot at each sale. Confirm the current position for your scheme with your strata manager or a solicitor before exchange, since the rule turns on the exact number of lots. Source: NSW Government, owning a pool or spa: your obligations.

QLD: the body corporate carries the obligation

Queensland's pool safety rules sit in the Building Act 1975, administered by the Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC). All pool owners, including bodies corporate, are responsible for making sure the barrier complies with the pool safety standard at all times.

For a pool on common property in a community titles scheme, that makes the body corporate the pool owner for compliance purposes, not any individual lot owner. The certificate itself, a pool safety certificate also known as a Form 23, can only be issued by a pool safety inspector licensed by the QBCC. Source: QBCC, inspect and certify a pool; Business Queensland, pool safety guidelines.

The certificate lasts half as long for a shared pool in QLD

This is the number that catches committees out. A QLD pool safety certificate is valid for 2 years for a non-shared, single-home pool, but only 1 year for a shared pool. And that shorter clock trips up more committees than the paperwork itself does.

NSW does not split certificate validity by pool type: a certificate of compliance is valid for 3 years regardless. What NSW adds instead is the standing three-year council inspection cycle for strata schemes over two lots, covered above, which a standalone house does not get. Source: NSW Government owner obligations; QBCC buy, sell or lease a property with a pool.

Leasing or selling when the shared-pool certificate has lapsed

In QLD, if you are leasing a lot in a scheme with a shared pool and there is no current pool safety certificate, the pool owner (usually the body corporate) must fill out and submit Form 36, notice of no pool safety certificate, to the QBCC. Once a Form 36 is lodged, the pool owner then has 90 days to obtain a pool safety certificate. The same 90-day window applies if the pool is being bought without a current certificate.

If a current certificate does exist, it must be given to the new occupier, and a copy must be displayed as near as practicable to the entrance of the premises or the pool access.

In NSW, the sale-contract certificate requirement that applies to a standalone house does not apply to a lot in a strata or community scheme of more than two lots (see above), so an individual lot sale in a larger scheme is not typically held up waiting on the pool's own certificate. Confirm the current position for your scheme with your strata manager. Source: QBCC buy, sell or lease a property with a pool; NSW Government owner obligations.

What the committee or strata manager should keep on file

A current certificate copy with the issue and expiry dates. For a QLD shared pool, treat the expiry as one year away, not two.

Confirmation of the NSW Swimming Pool Register listing, or the QLD Form 23 record.

Every inspection report, including any Form 36 notice lodged and the date the follow-up certificate was obtained.

A renewal calendar. Because a QLD shared-pool certificate runs on a one-year cycle independent of any specific sale or lease, book the next inspection well before it lapses rather than waiting for a transaction to force the question.

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• NSW vs QLD pool safety rules compared side by side
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Does every unit owner need their own certificate for the shared pool?

No. In NSW the certificate obligation for a common-property pool sits with the owners corporation. In QLD it sits with the body corporate. An individual lot owner only needs their own certificate if they have a separate pool inside their own lot boundary, which this guide does not cover.

Who inspects a shared pool?

In NSW, contact your local council or a private certifier, the same starting point as for a standalone house. In QLD, only a pool safety inspector licensed by the QBCC can issue a Form 23, again the same licensing rule as for any other pool. When you call, ask whether they have handled common-property or body-corporate pools before, since access coordination in a multi-unit building differs from a single backyard.

This is general information, not legal advice. The authorities are NSW Fair Trading and the NSW Swimming Pool Register in New South Wales, and the Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC) in Queensland. Always confirm the current rule for the state your pool is in.