Building Act 2004

Introduction

You could also call this:

"Keeping Young Children Safe Around Pools"

You want to keep young children safe. This part of the law aims to stop children under 5 years old from drowning or getting hurt. It does this by limiting their access to home pools when they are not supervised. The law is trying to protect children under 5 years old from pool accidents. It wants to make sure they are safe when they are near pools. You can find more information about changes to this law in section 10 of the Building (Pools) Amendment Act 2016. This law is in place to help prevent accidents. It is an important rule to follow to keep young children safe around pools. You should be aware of this rule if you have a pool at home or visit homes with pools.

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This page was last updated on 9 November 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM306035.

Highlights from this law

162C: Residential pools must have means of restricting access

Pools at home must have a fence to keep young children safe.

168A: Chief executive's functions in relation to this Act

The boss must make sure the law works properly and fix it if needed.

212: Territorial authority must act as building consent authority for its district

Councils must check building plans in their area to ensure they are safe and follow the rules.

248: Chief executive may appoint building consent accreditation body

The boss can choose someone to check if buildings are okay, or do it themselves if they don't pick anyone.

362A: Outline of this Part

This part explains how the law keeps people safe when they're getting building work done on their homes.

362D: Building contractor must provide information before residential building contract entered into

The builder must give you important information before you both agree to start building work on your home.

362Q: Building contractor or on-seller must remedy defect notified within 1 year of completion

If you find a problem with building work within a year, the builder or seller must fix it for free.

362V: Offence for commercial on-seller to transfer household unit without code compliance certificate

Selling a house without a code compliance certificate can get you in trouble with the law.

362VA: Building product information requirements may be prescribed

Rules can be made about sharing information when selling building products

Topics:

Housing and property > Home safety and repairsHealth and wellbeing > Public healthFamily and relationships > Children and parenting

1: Title, or

"This law tells us what the name of this set of rules is."

Building Act 2004

Reprint as at:: 2025-10-25
Assent:: 2004-08-24
Commencement:: see section 2

The Parliamentary Counsel Office has made editorial and format changes to this version using the powers under subpart 2 of Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019.

Note 4 at the end of this version provides a list of the amendments included in it.

This Act is administered by the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment.