Pool Barrier Compliance & Form 23
Hobsons Bay City Council
Hobsons Bay takes Form 23s through GreenLight OPM. How registration, the 30-day lodgement and your 4-year due date work, from a $250 flat inspector.
- Flat fee
- $250 all-inclusive · no hidden costs
- Turnaround
- Same-day Form 23 once your barrier meets compliance
- Inspector
- Ryan Gaw · VBA-registered · Licence IN-PS 100055
Call now — or we'll call you back
After hours or can't talk right now? Leave your name and number and Ryan will call you back the same day where we can.
Pool barrier inspections from Geelong to Docklands
Local Pool Inspections covers eleven council areas, from our base at Clifton Springs up to Bacchus Marsh and across to Docklands. Pick your council to see the suburbs we visit and what that council expects for pool and spa barrier compliance.
Move the lens over the map to see suburbs
Geelong and the Bellarine
Greater GeelongHome region. Based at Clifton Springs16
- Geelong
- Armstrong Creek
- Barwon Heads
- Belmont
- Clifton Springs
- Corio
- Curlewis
- Drysdale
- Grovedale
- Highton
- Lara
- Leopold
- Newtown
- Ocean Grove
- Portarlington
- Waurn Ponds
Melbourne's west
WyndhamWerribee to Point Cook6
Pool barrier compliance in Wyndham →Hobsons BayWilliamstown to Altona9
- Williamstown
- Newport
- Spotswood
- Altona
- Altona North
- Altona Meadows
- Seabrook
- Laverton
- Brooklyn
BrimbankSunshine to Keilor12
- Sunshine
- Sunshine West
- St Albans
- Deer Park
- Derrimut
- Cairnlea
- Keilor
- Keilor Downs
- Taylors Lakes
- Sydenham
- Kings Park
- Delahey
MeltonMelton to Fraser Rise8
Pool barrier compliance in Melton →MooraboolBacchus Marsh and Ballan5
Pool barrier compliance in Moorabool →Inner Melbourne
MaribyrnongFootscray and Yarraville8
- Footscray
- Yarraville
- Seddon
- Kingsville
- West Footscray
- Maidstone
- Maribyrnong
- Braybrook
Moonee ValleyEssendon and Moonee Ponds9
- Essendon
- Moonee Ponds
- Ascot Vale
- Aberfeldie
- Strathmore
- Niddrie
- Airport West
- Avondale Heights
- Keilor East
MelbourneThe CBD, Docklands and Southbank9
- Docklands
- Southbank
- Melbourne CBD
- North Melbourne
- West Melbourne
- Kensington
- Carlton
- Parkville
- East Melbourne
How do I register a pool or spa with Hobsons Bay City Council?
Hobsons Bay registers pools and spas on its own application form (the council's Form 22), and you pay council's fee when you apply. Any pool or spa that can hold more than 300mm of water is caught, whether it's in-ground, above-ground, indoor, inflatable or relocatable. That threshold comes from Part 9A of the Building Regulations 2018, so it's the same on every council's list. The fee is Hobsons Bay's to set and isn't printed on the council's swimming pools and spas page, so ask council for the current amount rather than relying on me for it.
Registration happens once. What recurs is the barrier inspection, which is the part I do. A brand-new pool is different again: its first sign-off comes from the building surveyor on the permit, and I come in when its first four-yearly certificate falls due. If you aren't sure where your pool sits, the pool registration Victoria guide sets out the statewide rules, and once you know your date the next step is booking a barrier inspection.
Where do I lodge my Form 23 with Hobsons Bay, and what's the fee?
Online, through GreenLight OPM. Council's page links to it as "submit Form 23 Certificate of Compliance", and the portal sits at hbcc.greenlightopm.com/building. The certificate has to be in within 30 days of its issue date. My $250 covers the inspection, my travel, the certificate itself and free re-inspections if the barrier doesn't pass first time. The lodgement fee is separate and goes to council.
I don't quote council fees, because they aren't mine and they change. Check the current figure on the swimming pools and spas page before you lodge. There's a full breakdown of the $250 if you want my fee and council's side by side, and a page on the Form 23 itself covering what the certificate states.
When is my next Form 23 due in Hobsons Bay?
Four years after your last certificate was lodged, on the date council gives you in writing. Regulation 147V of the Building Regulations 2018 makes council send that notice each time a certificate comes in, stating the lodgement date and when the next one is due, and Hobsons Bay's own page says owners are told their individual due dates by letter. So there is no single Hobsons Bay date. Two pools in the same Newport street can be years apart.
Some arithmetic helps. Existing pools had to be registered statewide by 1 November 2020, a date Hobsons Bay still refers to, and first certificates followed. If yours was lodged in 2022 or 2023, the next one falls four years after that lodgement, in 2026 or 2027. The letter is the authority, though, not my sum. Before booking, go through the pool compliance checklist; it's a fair rehearsal for the day.
What if my Hobsons Bay pool doesn't pass?
You get a written Non-Conformance Report listing each item to fix, and time to fix them. When the work's done I come back for our free re-inspections, and if the barrier passes, the Form 23 is issued then.
A Form 24 — the Certificate of Pool and Spa Barrier Non-Compliance — is the last resort. It's for a barrier that's an immediate threat to life and can't be made safe, or for repairs that never get done. The fee for lodging one is capped by state regulation but sits far above the Form 23 fee, which is one more reason to get the repairs finished.
What is GreenLight OPM, and do I need it to lodge my Form 23?
GreenLight OPM is the online system Hobsons Bay uses for barrier compliance submissions, so yes, it's the route for your certificate. It isn't where you register the pool (that's the Form 22 application). Have your property details and the certificate to hand when you log in.
If a letter from council is what prompted all this, the council pool barrier letter guide explains what each part of it means. Keep the next letter too. The one council sends after you lodge carries your new due date.
Pool Inspections by Suburb — Hobsons Bay City Council
Williamstown, Newport and Spotswood
Altona and Seabrook
Split with Wyndham or Brimbank
Neighbouring councils: Wyndham pool compliance · Brimbank pool compliance · Maribyrnong pool compliance