New NSW Fire Regulations on Fire Door Maintenance

If you build, own or manage a property in Sydney, you may have noticed fire door servicing has become a bigger conversation this year. That’s because since 13 February 2026, NSW building owners have had to maintain their essential fire safety measures, fire doors included, in line with Australian Standard AS 1851-2012.

For some buildings, this has barely changed a thing. For others, it has meant more frequent checks, more paperwork and a few surprises along the way.

At BF Door Manufacturing, we’ve seen this first-hand. As a manufacturer of fire-rated doors in Sydney, we’ve had a steady stream of calls from strata managers and owners after their first round of inspections under the new rules. A typical example is a mid-sized unit block where several stairwell doors had tired closers, gaps that had slowly widened past tolerance, and compliance tags painted over during a repaint years earlier. None of it was new damage. It simply hadn’t been picked up under the old once-a-year routine.

Below, we’ve set out what has actually changed for fire doors, with a short note on how things worked before, so you can see where your building stands.

Which buildings are affected?

The new requirement covers all new and existing class 1b and class 2 to class 9 buildings in NSW. These classes come from the National Construction Code, and together they take in almost every building except ordinary houses and sheds.

Standalone houses, townhouses and terraces (Class 1a) are not covered, and neither are non-habitable structures like garages, sheds and pools (Class 10).

The building classes themselves haven’t changed. Owners of these buildings already had a legal duty to maintain their fire safety measures. What’s different is that NSW now spells out exactly how that maintenance must be done, bringing it into line with most other states, where AS 1851 was already mandatory.

What changed for fire door maintenance

Doors must now be serviced to AS 1851

Until February 2026, owners maintained their fire doors to whatever “standard of performance” was listed for them on the building’s Fire Safety Schedule. AS 1851 wasn’t mandatory in NSW. In practice, many fire-doors were only properly looked at once a year, when the Annual Fire Safety Statement (AFSS) came due.

That has now changed. Fire doors must be inspected and tested using the routines and frequencies set out in AS 1851-2012. For swinging fire and smoke doors, that means a six-monthly check. Horizontal sliding fire doors also need a full operational test every three months.

A typical six-monthly service covers:

• Clearances and overlaps between the door leaves and frame, and whether perimeter gaps still comply
• Door and frame compliance tags
• The force needed to open and close the door
• Door hardware, checked against the manufacturer’s specifications
• Automatic operation, where the door has it
• Whether the frame is properly anchored
• Self-closing and self-latching operation
• Door leaves, for visible damage or delamination
• Astragals on double doors
• Smoke and fire seals
• Hinges, for damage

The old Fire Safety Schedule rule still sits on top of this. Your doors must keep performing to at least the standard listed on the schedule, while being serviced the AS 1851 way.

Across Sydney, the items we see fail most often are closers that no longer pull the door shut and latch, gaps that have grown as frames settle, and hardware swapped out for non-compliant parts. Most of these are straightforward fire door repairs when they’re caught early.

Solid-core doors are now part of the servicing routine

Many apartment entry doors aren’t fully fire-rated, but they’re listed on the Fire Safety Schedule as solid-core doors. Those doors already had to be self-closing, with no hardware stopping them from shutting fully. That rule hasn’t changed.

What’s new is that these doors now fall under the same AS 1851 servicing and record-keeping as other essential measures. If they’re on your schedule, they need to be checked on the same cycle.

Records must be kept in AS 1851 logbooks

Before, there was no set format for fire door maintenance records. For most buildings, the main paper trail was the yearly AFSS.

Now, owners must keep maintenance records in line with AS 1851, usually in logbooks kept on site. These records need to be available if the council or the Fire Commissioner asks for them. They’re also what the accredited practitioner looks at before signing off your AFSS each year.

The AFSS itself hasn’t gone anywhere. It still has to be lodged with council every year, whether or not your servicing is fully up to AS 1851 yet.

Servicing must be done by appropriately qualified people

The AFSS has needed sign-off from an Accredited Practitioner (Fire Safety) for some time. The routine servicing in between, though, didn’t have a set procedure to follow.

Now, owners are responsible for engaging qualified and appropriately licensed people to carry out inspections and testing to AS 1851. This is more a tightening of practice than a brand-new licence. It does mean the handyman who used to oil a hinge and call it done is no longer enough.

Service cycles started fresh on 13 February 2026

Because AS 1851 wasn’t mandatory before, there was no official service cycle to follow. Under the new rules, service intervals can start from 13 February 2026, so buildings didn’t have to backdate any history.

There’s also no requirement to keep a passive fire register under AS 1851. Owners only need to service the measures listed on their Fire Safety Schedule.

Not maintaining to AS 1851 now carries its own penalty

Owners have always been liable for failing to maintain their fire safety measures. The reform appears to add a specific offence for failing to maintain them to AS 1851, with separate penalties for corporations and individuals. In short, skipping or skimping on the new routines is now a compliance risk in its own right.

Coming next: accredited sign-off for new installations

One more change is on the way, and it matters most to builders. From 13 February 2027, or 18 months after an accreditation scheme is approved (whichever comes first), newly installed fire safety measures will need to be certified by an accredited person before a fire safety certificate can be issued.

If you’re specifying or installing fire-rated doors in Sydney for a new build or fit-out, it’s worth planning for this now so certification doesn’t hold up handover.

In a nutshell: what changed for doors

• AS 1851 servicing is mandatory. Fire and smoke doors in class 1b and class 2–9 buildings must now be inspected and tested to AS 1851-2012, not just kept in working order.
• Checks are more frequent. Swinging fire doors need a six-monthly service, and sliding fire doors need a full operational test every three months.
• Solid-core doors are included. Doors listed on the Fire Safety Schedule as solid-core now follow the same servicing and record-keeping routine.
• Records are formalised. Servicing must be logged in AS 1851-style records, kept on site and available to council or the Fire Commissioner.
• Qualified people must do the work. Inspections and testing must be carried out by appropriately qualified and licensed practitioners.
• The clock started on 13 February 2026. Service intervals run from that date, and no passive fire register is required.
• There’s a dedicated penalty. Failing to maintain fire safety measures to AS 1851 is now an offence in its own right.
• New installs are next. From February 2027 at the latest, newly installed measures will need certification by an accredited person.

How BF Door Manufacturing can help Sydney buildings

With inspections now more frequent, defects are identified sooner, and owners need a reliable partner to rectify them promptly. BF Door Manufacturing supports building owners, strata managers and builders across Sydney in meeting the new requirements.

When a door does need replacing, our standard turnaround is 7–10 working days. For urgent jobs like an AFSS due date coming up or a fire safety order with a short deadline, we can replace a fire door within 48 hours.

Inspections, and working alongside your practitioner

BF Door Manufacturing carries out fire door inspections in-house, and every inspection is completed by our accredited staff. You get a qualified assessment of each door, along with clear advice on what needs attention, all from a team that manufactures, repairs and installs fire doors every day.

We also work closely with external fire safety practitioners. If you already have someone handling your AFSS, we can take care of the fire doors for them, from inspection through to repair or replacement, so the door work is handled by door specialists.

If your building is in Sydney and you’re not sure your fire doors would pass under the new rules, give our team a call or book an inspection today. We’ll tell you exactly where your doors stand and take care of any repairs or replacements needed to bring them up to standard.