Are pre-1974 strata buildings exempt from fire safety upgrades?

NSW

Maintenance & Common Property

Are Strata Plans registered before 1974 exempt from fire safety upgrades?

We have been told due to our Strata Plan lodgement date (prior to July 1974), we do not have to upgrade our fire safety, and we do not have to have:

a sprinkler system in our garage
scheduled regular window lock checks for child safety
fire-rated individual entry doors in common stairwells
doors to the basement don't require a key to enter or exit
no extinguishers in stairwells
etc

Is this correct?

Owners are under no obligation to proactively upgrade fire safety systems unless required by the Regulatory Authority.

It is very hard to answer a question of this complexity without context, but here’s the best attempt:

Window Locks

Window locks – I am not knowledgeable on this subject, but a quick search seems to indicate that ALL strata buildings require them: Window safety device requirements

"Grandfather" Legislation

The only “grandfather” legislation in relation to fire protection is the requirement for working smoke alarms in all rented or sold residential apartments. This is irrespective of building age and required by the Smoke Alarm Legislation 2006 and the Residential Tenancies Act update last year. More general info can be found here: NSW Smoke Alarms - It's the Law

In regards to the other items, the owners are under no obligation to proactively upgrade fire safety systems unless required by the Regulatory Authority (e.g. Council or Fire Brigade). Council are required under the Environmental Planning & Assessment Regulation to “bring all buildings up to a current level of fire safety”. Hence, at some stage the upgrades noted WILL be required by Council and it is our recommendation that the owners start scoping and budgeting for this.

Council Upgrade Orders

Council Upgrade orders tend to be triggered by one of the following:

Development Application (DA) Submission.
Complaints
Fire Brigade attendance for a fire or callout
Random visit by council officers.

Being that the question is quite specific and if the word “upgrade” is used loosely, the answer could be different. For example; if the site is required to issue an Annual Fire Safety Statement (AFSS) to council and the items specified are not performing as per the code they were installed to, they must be returned to a condition where they do perform. If an AFSS is required to be issued, things like doors that are locked would have to be rectified if they restrict the paths of travel from the building.

Happy to discuss and gather further context with the writer if the above does not answer all questions.

Comments

Published: 7 Apr 2026

Last Updated: 7 Jul 2026

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Answer by

Rob Broadhead

2020 Fire Protection

Rob Broadhead, CEO of 2020 Fire Protection.

I've been involved in strata since 2001, spoken at events, written training courses and been involved in committees. I am a regular contributor to SCA, FMA, OCN, LookUpStrata and Your Strata Property.

I’ve been in fire protection since 1992, a graduate of the Institute of Fire Engineers and an Accredited Practitioner (Fire Safety).

I’ve served voluntarily as VP of FPA Australia and on SCA’s NSW State Committee. I've represented FMA on the Building Commission’s Fire Safety Steering committee, and listed in the 2021 report into Fire Safety Reform. I am co-chair of the Strata sector of the Fire Safety Industry Reference Group.

I bring timely fire and related legislative knowledge transparently to the strata industry.