Five regimes, one building’s year
Facility services: the inspections and records the law asks of a building
A building’s year runs on clocks the law sets. In New South Wales, water from a cooling tower is sampled at least once a month; in Victoria, where an occupancy permit or a maintenance determination requires essential safety measures, an annual report on them is prepared in the 28 days before each anniversary of the building’s own date; in Queensland, a registered lift’s registration expires on the first 31 January after the day it was granted.
This guide, published by Dotto, takes five of those regimes one at a time, each from the law that creates it, and names the person that law puts the duty on.
General information, not legal, engineering or fire safety advice. Each guide covers the state or law it names, and its sources are listed at the foot of the page.
The calendar, regime by regime
| Regime | Who carries it | A clock it sets |
|---|---|---|
| Cooling water systems, NSW | The occupier of the premises | Water sampled at least once a month and tested for Legionella; a new risk assessment at least every 12 months for a high-risk system. |
| Cooling tower systems, Victoria | The owner of the land; and whoever owns, manages or controls the system | Registration for no more than 3 years at a time; a Legionella sample at least once every 3 months. |
| Registrable plant, Queensland | The person with management or control of the item | Registration expires on the 31 January first occurring after it is granted. |
| Essential safety measures, Victoria | The owner of the building or place of public entertainment | The annual report, in the 28 days before each anniversary of the building’s anniversary date. |
| Fire safety installations, Queensland | The occupier of the building | Repairs within 1 month of the maintenance that found them; the occupier statement yearly under MP 6.1’s acceptable solution, with a copy to the commissioner within 10 business days. |
| Office energy ratings, Commonwealth | A constitutional corporation that owns or leases the building | A building energy efficiency certificate is current for no more than 12 months. |
Who the law names
The five regimes do not all put the duty on the owner. Each names its own person, and the guides keep to the law’s word.
- The occupier
- For cooling water systems in NSW, and for fire safety installations in Queensland. MP 6.1 takes the occupier to be the person actually occupying the building or, where nobody is, the owner.
- The owner
- Of the land, for registering a cooling tower system in Victoria; of the building or place of public entertainment, for Victoria’s essential safety measures.
- The person with management or control
- Of an item of plant in Queensland. Victoria’s cooling tower Regulations come close: their responsible person is whoever owns, manages or controls the system.
- A constitutional corporation
- For the Commonwealth’s office energy disclosure, which binds a corporation to which paragraph 51(xx) of the Constitution applies.
Five guides
Cooling towers and Legionella in NSW and Victoria
New South Wales takes notice of a tower and Victoria registers it, and the two states test for Legionella on different clocks.
Registering plant in Queensland
The eight kinds of plant Queensland registers, every exception, and the number that has to be marked on the item.
Essential safety measures in Victoria
Which buildings owe an annual report, what it has to say, and the records an officer can ask to see within 24 hours.
Fire safety maintenance in Queensland
The occupier’s duty, the licensed maintainer, the record of maintenance, and the occupier statement.
Commercial building energy ratings
When office space is offered for sale or lease: the certificate, the rating in the advertisement, and a repeal date in 2027.
Dates ahead
- 31 January 2027Every Queensland plant registration granted from 31 January 2026 to 30 January 2027 expires on this one day.
- The 28 days before 13 June, every yearThe annual report for a Victorian building constructed before 1 July 1994 whose essential safety measures were required by the Act, the Regulations or earlier laws.
- 1 October 2027The Commonwealth instrument that sets the 1,000 square metre office threshold, and the disclosure Regulations, are due to be repealed.
Each date is set out with its rule, and the person it falls to, in the guide for that regime.