Plain language law

New Zealand law explained for everyone

 Plain Language Law homepage
Back to
162C: Residential pools must have means of restricting access
or “Swimming pools at homes need fences or barriers to keep young kids safe”
You could also call this:

“Home swimming pools must be checked regularly to make sure they have safe fences or barriers”

You need to make sure that certain residential pools in your area are checked every three years. This check must happen within six months before or after the pool’s anniversary date. The check is to make sure the pool has the right safety barriers.

This rule applies to all residential pools except small heated pools. It also applies to small heated pools that need a building consent for their barriers.

Your local council can accept a certificate from a qualified pool inspector instead of doing the check themselves. If the council decides not to accept this certificate, they must tell the chief executive within seven working days and explain why.

If a qualified inspector checks a pool and finds that it doesn’t have the right safety barriers, they must tell the local council within three working days.

The ‘anniversary date’ of a pool is usually when it got its code compliance certificate. For pools that didn’t need a building consent, it’s either when the council was told about the pool under an old law, or when the council found out about the pool.

A ‘certificate of periodic inspection’ is a document from a qualified pool inspector. It must be in the right form and say that the pool has the correct safety barriers.

This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.

Next up: 162E: Manufacturers and retailers must supply notice

or “People who make or sell swimming products must give buyers a note about pool safety rules.”
Next

Part 2 Building
Special provisions for residential pools

162DPeriodic inspections of residential pools

  1. Every territorial authority must ensure that the following residential pools within its jurisdiction are inspected at least once every 3 years, within 6 months before or after the pool’s anniversary date, to determine whether the pool has barriers that comply with the requirements of section 162C:

  2. residential pools other than small heated pools:
    1. small heated pools that have barriers that are not exempt, in terms of Schedule 1, from the requirement to have a building consent.

      1. A territorial authority may accept a certificate of periodic inspection from an independently qualified pool inspector for the purpose of subsection (1) in lieu of carrying out an inspection under section 222.

      2. If a territorial authority decides not to accept a certificate of periodic inspection from an independently qualified pool inspector under subsection (2), the territorial authority must, within 7 working days of making that decision, give notice to the chief executive of the decision and the reasons for the decision.

      3. If an independently qualified pool inspector inspects a pool for the purpose of this section and decides that the pool does not have barriers that comply with the requirements of section 162C (subject to any waiver or modification granted under section 67A or 188), the inspector must, within 3 working days of the date of inspection, give written notice to the relevant territorial authority of the decision, attaching any information that the chief executive requires to accompany the notice.

      4. In this section,—

        anniversary date, in relation to a pool, means—

        1. the date of issue of the code compliance certificate or the certificate of acceptance in respect of the pool; or
          1. in the case of a pool that did not require a building consent,—
            1. the date on which notice was given under section 7 of the Fencing of Swimming Pools Act 1987; or
              1. if subparagraph (i) does not apply, the date on which the existence of the pool came to the knowledge of the territorial authority

              certificate of periodic inspection means a certificate that—

              1. is issued by an independently qualified pool inspector; and
                1. is in the prescribed form (if any); and
                  1. certifies that a pool has barriers that comply with the requirements of section 162C (subject to any waiver or modification granted under section 67A or 188).

                  Notes
                  • Section 162D: inserted, on , by section 10 of the Building (Pools) Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 71).