Removing a pool is demolition, on paper
Filling in a pool feels like landscaping. Legally it isn't — under the Building Act 2011 (WA), an in-ground pool is an incidental structure, and demolishing one generally requires a demolition permit from your local government before work starts. Three things need to happen in order:
- Before work: a demolition permit (form BA5), or written confirmation from your council that your specific job doesn't need one.
- During work: the pool safety barrier stays compliant until the shell physically cannot hold water.
- After work: the council is notified, may inspect, and removes the pool from its barrier-inspection register — which is what stops the inspection charges.
Skip the third step and you'll keep getting inspection notices for a pool that no longer exists.
The BA5 permit
The application is the state-wide BA05 form, published on wa.gov.au and lodged with the local government as permit authority. Either the owner or the contractor can apply; in practice the contractor usually handles the lodgement, with a site plan, details of service disconnections (power to the pool equipment, plumbing) and the demolition method. Application fees and the building services levy are set under WA's building regulations and indexed — no fee is quoted on this page, deliberately. Ask your council for its current fee schedule when you confirm requirements. The Australian Business Licence and Information Service (ablis.business.gov.au) is a useful cross-check for which approvals attach to demolition work in WA.
City of Mandurah — two accepted endings
For Dudley Park, Wannanup, San Remo and Madora Bay, the permit authority is the City of Mandurah (building applications and permits). Its swimming pools and spas guidance recognises two ways to be rid of a pool:
- Complete removal — shell out, ground backfilled.
- Decommissioning — the pool permanently altered so it can never hold water: a minimum of two 500 mm × 500 mm openings cut through the base at the deep end with the cut material removed, filtration disconnected, ladders out, then fill.
Either way, the City asks to be notified in writing with the property address and, where possible, before-and-after photos, and may inspect before confirming. Once confirmed, the pool comes off the City's four-yearly barrier inspection schedule and the inspection fee comes off future rates notices. Canal and estuary-side properties should ask the City early whether anything else sits in front of the permit for their lot.
Shire of Murray — riverside blocks
For Barragup, Furnissdale, North Yunderup and South Yunderup, the authority is the Shire of Murray (pool safety and inspections). The Shire runs its own swimming pool and spa barrier inspection programme and publishes fees for barrier inspections in its schedule — confirm current figures with the Shire rather than any website. Murray's riverside settlements add one practical wrinkle: a high water table near the Murray River and the Murray Lakes canals, which is worth raising with both the Shire and your contractor when the demolition method is decided.
Golden Bay, Secret Harbour and Singleton — different council
These three sit north of the Mandurah boundary, in the City of Rockingham. The state framework — Building Act, BA5, barrier rules — is identical, but the permit authority, forms and register are Rockingham's (swimming pools, spas and safety barriers). Same checklist, different front desk.
The fence stays up longer than you'd think
WA's barrier rules apply to any pool or spa capable of holding more than 300 mm of water — and demolition doesn't pause them. Until the shell is breached, drained and physically incapable of holding water, the existing barrier must remain or compliant temporary fencing must replace it; Building and Energy's guidance (on wa.gov.au) describes acceptable temporary fencing as non-climbable to 1200 mm, or 1800 mm minimum where climbable. A half-broken shell collecting winter rain behind a fence that came down on day one is the exact hazard the rules — and the fines — exist for.
A note on the links above
Council websites get reorganised, and some block automated access, so a link on this page may not open the day you try it. The information itself doesn't move: ring the council's building services team — City of Mandurah, Shire of Murray or City of Rockingham depending on your suburb — and confirm the permit, the process and the current fees for your address. Nothing on this page is a promise that any permit will be granted. For what the job itself costs once approvals are sorted, see what it costs; to get the process moving, call (08) 9516 1339.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need council approval to remove a swimming pool in Mandurah?
Generally yes. An in-ground pool is an incidental structure under the Building Act 2011 (WA), and demolishing one normally needs a demolition permit — applied for on form BA5 — from your local government. Around here that means the City of Mandurah for Dudley Park, Wannanup, San Remo and Madora Bay, the Shire of Murray for Barragup, Furnissdale and the Yunderups, and the City of Rockingham for Golden Bay, Secret Harbour and Singleton. The City of Mandurah's published guidance exempts only small structures like sheds and patios up to about 40 m² — a pool is not on that list. Confirm your property's requirements with your council's building services team before any work is booked.
Can I decommission the pool instead of fully removing it in Mandurah?
Yes — the City of Mandurah formally accepts decommissioning as an alternative to complete removal. Its published process requires the pool to be permanently altered so it can never hold water again: cutting a minimum of two 500 mm x 500 mm openings through the base at the deep end, removing the cut fibreglass or concrete, and disconnecting the filtration system and any access ladders before filling. You then notify the City in writing, ideally with before-and-after photos, and the City may inspect before signing it off. Requirements are the council's to set and can change — take the current version from the City directly.
How do I stop paying the pool inspection fee after removal?
Tell the council, in writing, that the pool is gone — and let them confirm it. WA councils inspect private pool barriers on a rolling cycle (the City of Mandurah runs a four-yearly schedule and recovers the cost through rates; the Shire of Murray runs its own barrier inspection programme), and the charge only stops once the pool comes off the register. The City of Mandurah's process is written notification with the property address and photos where possible, a possible site inspection, and then removal from the inspection schedule with the fee taken off future rates notices. Until you send that notification, the register still says you own a pool.