Fire safety exemption

Under section 111 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment (Development Certification and Fire Safety) Regulation 2021, the applicant of a:

• development assessment (DA) or complying development certificate (CDC) for change of existing building use, excluding an alteration of the building, or
• construction certificate (CC) for building work (excluding change of existing building use)

may lodge an objection with FRNSW that compliance with any specified Category 3 fire safety provision, as applied by section 69 (DA) or section 146 (CDC) of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2021, is unreasonable or unnecessary in the circumstances.

Note: FRNSW will not grant a fire safety exemption if:

• the fire safety provision is subject to a fire safety order requiring upgrade.
• the objection involves the total deletion of any required hydraulic Category 3 fire safety provision. Refer to FRNSW position statement Exemption from fire safety standards.
• the CC or CDC has already been issued.
• a condition has been imposed on the development consent that conflicts with the objection.
• non-compliances are identified during any certification inspection.

FRNSW will assess the application and provide written comments outlining the determination on the fire safety exemption (i.e. exempt conditionally, exempt unconditionally, not exempt).

From Monday 2 February, all applications and requests submitted to Fire Safety require the prescribed assessment fee to be paid in advance.

To facilitate the processing of the assessment fee ahead of the application, and not cause delay to your application timeframes, please commence the payment process four (4) working days before the application is to be lodged.

To request an assessment fee invoice prior to submission—regardless of whether you have an existing FRNSW SAP customer number—visit Pay upfront fee. Payment instructions will be provided with the issued invoice.

The ‘Agreement’ section of the form requires you to enter the payee’s SAP customer number and assessment fee invoice number.

Applications and requests will only be processed once these details have been provided and the assessment fee has been paid in full.

Note: If consultation on a possible fire safety exemption is being sought, prior to lodging a formal objection, the FRNSW written report (other) application should be used instead.

To apply for a fire safety exemption, the following must be completed and submitted to firesafety@fire.nsw.gov.au:

1. Fire safety exemption application form
2. Other relevant information that will assist FRNSW in assessing the exemption
3. A copy of the DA, CDC or CC application (as relevant)
4. A copy of building work plans and specifications (for proposed building work)
5. A copy of the current and proposed fire safety schedule (where relevant)
6. A copy of the current water authority pressure inquiry form (where relevant).