Fencing

Spa pools, hot tubs and the rules that apply

A spa with a water surface area of 5 m² or less, designed for therapeutic or recreational use, is a small heated pool in the Building Act. It must restrict access by unsupervised under-fives, but only when it is not in use. A complying safety cover can be that barrier where the top of every wall is at least 760 mm above the adjacent floor or ground and the walls inhibit climbing. Since 26 November 2024, a small heated pool with a complying safety cover is outside the 3-yearly inspection duty.

Read from legislation.govt.nz on 16 September 2026.

What counts as a small heated pool

The definition

“small heated pool means a heated pool (such as a spa pool or a hot tub) that (a) has a water surface area of 5 m² or less; and (b) is designed for therapeutic or recreational use.”

Building Act 2004 s 7, definitions

Size is what decides it, not the label on the box. A large swim spa over 5 m² is not a small heated pool, and the ordinary pool rules apply to it.

Barrier only when it is not in use

The exception

“In the case of a small heated pool, the means of restricting access referred to in subsection (1) need only restrict access to the pool when the pool is not in use.”

Building Act 2004 s 162C(3); repeated in Building Code F9.3.1

This is what lets a cover do the job of a fence. In use means in use — with people at it. The rest of the time the cover has to be on and secured.

When a cover is allowed to be the barrier

The 760 mm wall test

Barriers must either surround the pool, or, in the case of a small heated pool, cover the pool itself. That second option “applies only to those small heated pools where the top surface of every wall of the pool is at all points not less than 760 mm above the adjacent floor or ground and the walls of the pool inhibit climbing”.

Building Code F9.3.2

Tauranga City Council adds the detail that there must also be no surfaces, objects or protrusions within 760 mm, measured in an arc from the top of the spa, that could help a child under five reach it. A set of steps left beside the spa is exactly what that is about.

What the cover itself must do

A cover provided as a barrier to a small heated pool must restrict the entry of children when closed; be able to withstand a reasonably foreseeable load; be able to be readily returned to the closed position; and have signage indicating its child safety features.

Building Code F9.3.5

Auckland Council publishes further detail for covers it accepts, including a lid capable of supporting 20 kg at its centre and hold-down straps and fasteners leaving no opening greater than 100 mm. That is one council's specification rather than the Code text, so read it alongside your own council's.

Inspections: the 2024 change

Covered spas are outside the 3-yearly duty

Section 162D(1)(b) requires councils to inspect small heated pools every three years except those with a safety cover that complied with the building code when the cover was installed, or complies with the building code as it currently provides. That paragraph was replaced on 26 November 2024 by the Building (Earthquake-prone Building Deadlines and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2024.

Building Act 2004 s 162D(1)(b)

Consent

Installing a safety cover as the means of restricting access to a small heated pool is exempt building work under Schedule 1 clause 21A. A fence around a spa is building work like any other barrier and needs consent (Schedule 1 clause 23(2)). Consent, in full.

Inflatable and portable spas

The rules apply to any pool that can hold water 400 mm deep or more (s 162B). Tauranga City Council's position is that most inflatable spas need a fence, because only spas meeting all the small-heated-pool criteria can use a cover as the barrier. Auckland Council says the same about portable pools: anything that can hold 400 mm of water needs a barrier by law, and paddling pools below that should be supervised and emptied after use.

The out-of-date fine

Several consumer pages still quote a $5,000 fine for an unfenced portable pool. Under the current Building Act the infringement fee for failing to comply with a notice to fix about a pool barrier is $500, and the maximum on conviction is $20,000 for an individual or $60,000 for a body corporate (s 168(1AA)–(1AB), and the Building (Infringement Offences, Fees, and Forms) Regulations 2007).

Sources

General information, not legal or building advice. Only your council or an independently qualified pool inspector can decide whether your spa's barrier or cover complies.

Questions

Does a spa pool need a fence in NZ?

It needs a means of restricting access when it is not in use (Building Act s 162C(3)). A complying safety cover can be that means, but only where the top surface of every wall is at all points not less than 760 mm above the adjacent floor or ground and the walls inhibit climbing (Building Code F9.3.2(b)). Otherwise it needs a barrier like any other pool.

What makes a spa cover compliant?

Building Code F9.3.5 requires a cover used as a barrier to restrict the entry of children when closed, withstand a reasonably foreseeable load, be able to be readily returned to the closed position, and have signage indicating its child safety features.

Is a spa inspected every three years?

Not if it has a complying safety cover. Section 162D(1)(b), as replaced on 26 November 2024, excludes small heated pools with a safety cover that complied with the Building Code when it was installed, or complies with it as it currently provides.

Do inflatable spas count?

They are covered by the rules if they hold water 400 mm deep or more. Whether a cover can be the barrier is a separate question, and most inflatable spas fail the 760 mm unclimbable-wall test in F9.3.2(b), so they need a fence.

Is the fine for an unfenced portable pool $5,000?

No. That figure comes from the repealed Fencing of Swimming Pools Act 1987 regime and is still quoted in places. Under the Building Act the infringement fee for failing to comply with a notice to fix about a pool barrier is $500, and on conviction the fine is up to $20,000 for an individual or $60,000 for a body corporate.