In Western Australia every owner and every occupier of premises with a private pool holding more than 300 mm of water must keep a compliant barrier around it. Because the duty sits with whoever owns or occupies the house, it carries straight across a sale, and the local government inspects the barrier at intervals of no more than four years.
General information, not legal advice. This page is read from the Building Regulations 2012, Building and Energy (part of WA’s Department of Local Government, Industry Regulation and Safety) and the City of Canning. The City’s pool inspectors can say whether a particular barrier complies; a lawyer can advise on a particular sale.
The duty, and who it binds
“Each owner and occupier of premises on which there is a private swimming pool containing water that is more than 300 mm deep must ensure that a pool barrier that restricts access to the pool and complies with the requirements of regulation 50A (and, if applicable, regulation 52) is installed or provided around the pool.”
Building Regulations 2012 (WA), regulation 50(2). Sourced from the Western Australian Legislation website at 8 October 2026. For the latest information on Western Australian legislation, visit www.legislation.wa.gov.au. © State of Western Australia, CC BY 4.0
The fine is $5,000 (as at October 2026). The rules apply only in the local government districts listed in Schedule 5 of the regulations; the City of Canning is listed for its whole district. Spa pools and portable pools are caught too, and the City reminds owners that an inflatable pool holding more than 300 mm needs a barrier like any other.
Building and Energy is plain about what a barrier is for: it is meant to make a pool child-resistant, not child-proof, and it backs up the first protection, which is watching young children closely. The regulations define the children a barrier must keep out as those under five.
Before the sale the duty sits with the seller as owner, and with any tenant or other occupier. After the sale the same duty belongs to the new owner, and to anyone who occupies the house.
Which standard a barrier is measured against
An established home’s pool may be decades old, and WA does not hold every pool to the newest standard. The age of the pool decides the yardstick.
| Pool | What the barrier must meet |
|---|---|
| Any pool | A Building Code pool barrier requirement in effect when the pool’s building permit was applied for (or, without a permit, when construction began), or a later one. Building and Energy names AS 1926.1-2012 and AS 1926.2-2007 as the general standards. |
| Built before 1 May 2016 | May instead meet AS 1926.1-1993 or alternative requirements the permit authority has approved, provided any wall in the barrier gives access to the pool only through a window meeting that standard or a door the authority has approved. |
| Installed before 5 November 2001 | The pool’s surrounds may take in any part of the property, and the barrier may include a wall with a door into the house if the door meets AS 1926.1-1993. Building and Energy notes that outdoor pools are generally not allowed child-resistant doors in their barrier unless approved or installed before this date. |
Whatever the age, a building inside the pool area (other than a shed, garage or similar Class 10 building) must itself be cut off from the pool by a barrier, and the barrier must restrict access from the street and from neighbouring land as well. A dividing fence can form part of the pool barrier if it meets the Australian Standards, which ties this lot to dividing fences in WA.
The City of Canning publishes self-assessment checklists in three versions, for pools installed before 5 November 2001, after that date, and approved after 1 May 2016. It cautions that its inspectors work from fuller checklists, so a barrier can pass the owner’s check and still fail theirs.
The inspection cycle
A new pool
The local government must inspect the barrier within 30 days of learning the pool or barrier is finished, for example through the builder’s notice of completion. Building and Energy suggests the owner book that first inspection right after handover, with the barrier’s compliance papers ready for the inspector.
If it fails
The inspector returns within 60 days, and keeps returning until satisfied the barrier complies.
Every four years at most
Once a barrier passes, the next inspection must fall within four years. Inspectors have powers of entry under the Building Act 2011, and the City of Canning gives notice before it comes and lets owners choose a time online.
The charges are capped. For a new pool’s first inspection and any re-inspections it leads to, the local government may charge up to $312. For the periodic program it may charge each pool owner up to $78 a financial year, payable whether or not that owner’s pool is inspected in that year. Both caps are as at October 2026, and neither charge may exceed the local government’s estimated average cost. Building and Energy notes the periodic charge usually appears on the annual rates notice.
When a fence or gate comes down
Renovations that remove part of a pool barrier carry their own duty: whoever is responsible for the work must put up a temporary barrier meeting the same requirements for as long as the fence, wall, gate or panel is out. Every new pool or spa needs building approval, and a pool on an established lot that never had one is a matter for unauthorised work and building approval certificates. The City of Canning’s building team takes a building approval certificate application made for an unauthorised spa.
Gates are where most of the danger lies. Building and Energy says gates are the most common way young children who drowned had reached the pool, usually because a gate was propped open, a latch had failed or a gate did not close itself. Its advice is never to prop a gate and to keep latches and hinges maintained.