Your Annual Fire Safety Statement is due every 12 months, and council does not send reminders. If you miss your anniversary date, you are in breach of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979, and the consequences can escalate quickly from a penalty notice to a court-imposed fine of up to $110,000 for corporations.
The good news is that a well-prepared AFSS renewal is straightforward. The building owners who run into trouble are almost always the ones who leave it too late or discover mid-process that their maintenance records have gaps. This checklist walks you through exactly what to do and when, starting 90 days out from your due date.
Want Fire Safe ANZ to manage your AFSS renewal from start to finish? We handle routine testing, accredited assessment, and lodgement support across NSW. Request a quote today
Locate your fire safety schedule
Your fire safety schedule lists every essential fire safety measure your building is required to maintain. It is the foundation of your AFSS and must be on site at the building at all times. If you cannot find it, request a copy from your local council. Everything in your renewal process is measured against this document.
Read our guide: What Is a Fire Safety Schedule and Why Does It Matter?
Confirm your AFSS anniversary date
Your due date is fixed at 12 months from your previous AFSS lodgement. Put it in your calendar now, and mark 90 days prior as the date to start this process. At 8 to 12 weeks before the due date, engage your accredited practitioner. Booking earlier than this avoids the end-of-quarter scheduling pressure that fire safety providers face as multiple buildings approach their anniversary dates simultaneously.
Check whether your building has critical fire safety measures
If your fire safety schedule lists any measures as critical, you are also required to lodge a Supplementary Fire Safety Statement (SFSS) at more frequent intervals throughout the year, not just at the annual lodgement. Confirm whether any supplementary statements are outstanding before focusing on the annual renewal.
Pull your AS 1851 logbooks and service records
From 13 February 2026, all essential fire safety measures must be maintained in accordance with AS 1851-2012. Your accredited practitioner will check that maintenance records demonstrate compliance with AS 1851’s prescribed service frequencies across every system on your fire safety schedule. A gap in your records is as serious as a gap in your maintenance.
Specifically, check that you have records for:
Records must be retained on site for a minimum of seven years. If you are missing records from earlier years, document what you have and discuss the gap with your practitioner before the assessment.
Fire Safe ANZ clients have 24/7 access to their complete maintenance records through our client portal, with hard copy logbooks on site after every service visit.
Check for outstanding defects
Review your most recent service reports and identify any defects that were noted but not yet rectified. An unresolved defect sitting in a report for months is a compliance gap that will prevent your AFSS from being endorsed. It is also, as one regulatory guidance note puts it, exactly the kind of paper trail that can defeat an insurance claim. Act on open defects before your assessment is scheduled.
For more on what commonly goes unresolved until it becomes a problem, read: 5 Signs Your Building Will Fail Its Next Fire Safety Audit
Before your accredited practitioner arrives, walk your building and do a basic visual check. You are looking for the issues that are most commonly identified during assessments:
Fire doors Check every fire door in common areas. Does it close fully and latch under its own power from any open position? Is it propped open, damaged, or fitted with non-compliant hardware? Is the compliance tag present and legible? A fire door failing on the day of assessment is a defect that needs rectification before the AFSS can be endorsed.
Read our guide: Fire Door Compliance Tags: What Building Owners Need to Know
Fire extinguishers and hose reels Are all extinguishers visible, accessible, and showing a current service tag? Are hose reels unobstructed and correctly signposted? A hose reel blocked by stored stock or a piece of equipment is a compliance failure, not just a housekeeping problem.
Emergency lighting and exit signs Check that every exit sign is illuminated. Look for fittings that appear dim or where the green indicator light is absent. These are signs of potential battery issues that will be revealed during the discharge test. Fixing them before the assessment avoids last-minute rectification pressure.
Read our guide: Emergency Lighting Testing Requirements in Australia
Evacuation diagrams Check that evacuation diagrams are displayed at the required locations throughout the building and that none are out of date, damaged, or obscured. If your building has been reconfigured since the diagrams were last updated, new diagrams need to be produced before the assessment.
Read our guide: Evacuation Diagrams: Does Your Building Need One?
Fire Indicator Panel Check the FIP for any active fault indicators. A fault that has been acknowledged and silenced but not resolved is a defect. If your FIP is showing any unresolved faults, contact your fire protection provider before the assessment is scheduled.
Read our guide: FIP Testing: What Building Owners Need to Know
Book the assessment within the three-month window
Inspections and testing must occur no more than three months before your AFSS lodgement date. This is a firm requirement. An assessment carried out outside this window cannot be used to support lodgement.
When booking, confirm with your provider that they hold current FPAS accreditation for every essential fire safety measure on your building’s fire safety schedule. Not all practitioners are accredited across every measure type. If your building has systems that require different accreditation categories, confirm that your provider can cover all of them.
Allow time for defect rectification
Do not schedule your assessment in the final week before your due date. If defects are identified during the assessment, you need time to have them rectified before the AFSS can be endorsed. Build at least two to three weeks of rectification buffer between your assessment date and your lodgement deadline.
Rectify any identified defects promptly
Every defect identified during the assessment must be resolved before your accredited practitioner can endorse the AFSS. Follow up on any rectification work immediately and confirm with your provider when each defect has been cleared.
Sign and lodge the AFSS
Once your accredited practitioner has endorsed the statement, you as the building owner must sign it and lodge it with two separate bodies:
Keep your lodgement confirmation from both. A lodgement receipt is your evidence of on-time compliance.
Update the displayed copy
A copy of the current AFSS and fire safety schedule must be prominently displayed within the building. Replace the previous year’s displayed statement with the new one immediately after lodgement. This is a separate legal requirement from lodgement itself and is checked during council inspections and fire safety audits.
AFSS due soon and not sure where to start? Fire Safe ANZ handles the full process. Call us now to book an assessment before your due date. Call 1300 553 566 or request a quote online
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