What Form 36 is for
Queensland requires a pool safety certificate when a property with a pool sells — but the law provides an out. If there's no current certificate, the seller can give the buyer a Form 36: Notice of no pool safety certificate before settlement (and lodge a copy with the QBCC). Settlement can then proceed without a certificate.
The catch transfers with it: the buyer takes on the obligation to obtain a certificate within 90 days of settlement — which means paying for the inspection and fixing whatever fails.
When sellers use it
- Deceased estates and investor sales where nobody wants to project-manage fence repairs
- Auctions — the Form 36 must be given to prospective buyers before the contract is signed
- Sales where the buyer plans to demolish, renovate or fill in the pool anyway
- Tight settlements where there's no time for inspection plus fixes
For everyone else, getting the certificate before sale is usually the better look: it removes a negotiation lever from the buyer, who will otherwise price in worst-case rectification.
Buying on a Form 36? Read this first
That 90-day clock starts at settlement, not when you get around to it. Budget for the inspection ($150–$250) plus rectification — which you can't accurately estimate without knowing what's wrong. Before you sign, walk the fence line with our inspection checklist or pay for a pre-purchase pool inspection; a sagging fence or non-compliant gate is a repair bill you can negotiate off the price now, or eat later.
An expired Form 36 deadline leaves you owning a non-compliant pool with no certificate — on-the-spot fines start around $1,000 and court penalties run higher, quite apart from the safety risk. Book the inspection in your first fortnight, not month three.
How the process works
- Seller (or their agent/solicitor) completes Form 36 and gives it to the buyer before settlement — before contract at auctions
- A copy is lodged with the QBCC (online, email or post)
- Settlement proceeds; buyer's 90 days start
- Buyer books a QBCC-licensed pool safety inspector, fixes any fails, and obtains the certificate