A pool or spa in Victoria must be registered with council↗, and the owner must lodge a barrier compliance certificate every 4 years↗. The certificate is Form 23↗, issued by a registered inspector. If the barrier fails you have 60 days↗ to fix it.
Victoria changed the rules in 2019 and a lot of owners still have not caught up. Compulsory registration started 1 December 2019↗, and existing pools had to be on the council's register by 1 June 2020↗. If you bought a house in Bendigo with a pool that predates all of this, the obligation came with the property, not with the previous owner's intentions.
Which pools and spas have to be registered?
More than people assume. The rules reach permanent pools and spas and most relocatable ones, including inflatables, that hold more than 30 cm of water↗. That is a shallow paddling pool from a hardware store, not just the in-ground pool behind the house.
Temporary pools have their own trigger. Keep a relocatable pool up for three consecutive days or more and the landowner has to register it on or before the fourth day↗. Renters who buy one in December should tell the rental provider, because the duty sits with whoever owns the land.
How often does the certificate come around?
You obtain and lodge a certificate every 4 years↗. When the council receives it, it sends back the date your next certificate is due↗. That letter is the only reminder most owners get, so it is worth putting the date in a calendar the day it arrives rather than in a drawer.
See this timeline as a table
| When | What has to happen | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1 December 2019 | Compulsory registration of pools and spas commenced | Victorian Building Authority: New pool and spa safety barrier requirements (2019) |
| 1 June 2020 | Deadline for existing pools to be registered with the council | Victorian Building Authority: New pool and spa safety barrier requirements (2019) |
| every 4 years | Lodge a barrier compliance certificate, then repeat | Building and Plumbing Commission (Victoria): Pool and spa inspections and compliance |
| 60 days | Time to fix a barrier that failed before the inspector escalates | Building and Plumbing Commission (Victoria): Pool and spa inspections and compliance |
What happens if the barrier fails?
You get 60 days↗ to make it compliant. That is a real window, and it is enough for a gate repair or a new latch, but not enough for a fence line you have been putting off for two years.
An inspector must issue a non-compliance certificate immediately↗ where the barrier cannot be made compliant or the owner is unlikely to get it done in time. After the window closes, the inspector issues the non-compliance certificate and the municipal building surveyor decides what to do, which can include a barrier improvement notice.
What does it cost?
Two separate bills. The inspector charges for the inspection and the certificate, and the council charges for registration and for lodging each certificate. On the council side, the regulator does not publish an amount: fees are set by your council↗, so the number depends on whether you are in Port Phillip or East Gippsland.
On the inspector side, businesses publish their prices. One Victorian compliance business lists an initial inspection at $200 to $300↗ with a follow-up free or $50 to $100↗, and another advertises $170 + GST↗. Those are industry figures, not regulated ones, so treat them as a guide and get two quotes. There is more on this in what a pool inspection costs.
What if the property is rented?
The duties sit with the rental provider. They register the pool, keep the barrier compliant, and the rental provider↗ is responsible for keeping it in good repair. They must give the renter a copy of the compliance certificate on request↗.
For renters, the useful part is this: a fault with a pool or spa fence, gate or door is an urgent repair↗. Urgent has a specific meaning in Victorian tenancy law, and it is the difference between a repair this week and a repair next quarter. Put it in writing as soon as you notice it.
Selling a Victorian property with a pool
Victoria does not run the sale-triggered certificate that Queensland and New South Wales do. What it runs is the four-yearly cycle, which does not pause because you are selling. A buyer's conveyancer will ask whether the pool is registered and whether the current certificate has been lodged, and an overdue certificate is a straightforward thing to negotiate against.
If you are selling or leasing, the compliance checker lists the Victorian obligations in order, and selling or renting with a pool compares Victoria with the states that do tie a certificate to the contract.