Question: Our fire company passed a screen door on a fire door as compliant but advised the door be removed. Can the owners corporation force the owner to comply?
Can the owners corporation force an owner to remove a screen door that is attached to their fire door? The fire company passed the door as compliant but strongly advised removing the door for fire safety reasons. The owner has stated that they would refuse to do this.
Answer: I think the security door is ok, unless…
The screen door wouldn’t be attached to the door. It would be attached to the frame, and it would most likely be external. It would be pedantic to defect it from the fire door perspective of it being attached to the fire door frame (although you could argue the door set has never been tested with a security door attached to the frame). Perhaps more significantly, the SOU door would swing inwards, and the security door would swing outwards, which means it may swing into a path of travel and pose a safety issue for people. Having a self-closer on it may reduce the risk to some degree, but you could still potentially hit someone with the door as they are trying to exit. However, this is a general safety concern and does not constitute a BCA non-compliance. This is because the relevant section (D2.20) applies to a “required exit” and not a “path of travel to a required exit.”
In short, I think the security door is ok, unless:
- You want to be pedantic about it being attached to a rated frame without test approval or
- The corridor it opens into is somehow considered part of a “required exit” (for example, a ground level corridor where the fire isolated stair discharges internally into that corridor).
This post appears in the August2025 edition of The NSW Strata Magazine.
Chris Chatham
LINKfire
E: Chris.Chatham@linkfire.com.au
P: 1300 669 439
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