Short answer
An Annual Fire Safety Statement (AFSS) is a yearly certificate confirming that a building’s essential fire safety measures have been inspected by a competent person and are working as required. Many strata buildings must lodge one every year with the local council and Fire and Rescue NSW. It’s an annual obligation, and missing it can bring penalties as well as real safety risk.
What the statement covers
The AFSS confirms that each of the building’s essential fire safety measures — things like fire alarms, extinguishers, hydrants, exit and emergency lighting, and fire doors — has been assessed and is performing to the standard it was installed to meet. A suitably qualified, competent fire safety practitioner carries out the assessment, and the statement is issued for the building as a whole, not lot by lot.
Which law it sits under
This is the part owners often get wrong: the AFSS is not a Strata Schemes Management Act obligation. It sits under NSW planning law — the environmental planning and building regulations — and is administered by the local council and Fire and Rescue NSW, not Fair Trading. So the detail of what must be checked, by whom, and by when comes from that planning framework rather than the strata Act, and the specifics can vary with the building and its original fire safety schedule. Treat the strata Act as governing who is responsible (the owners corporation), and planning law as governing the statement itself.
Flag: the precise AFSS requirements, deadlines and the list of measures for a given building sit outside the SSMA, in NSW planning law and the building’s own fire safety schedule. Confirm the specifics with your council or a qualified fire safety practitioner.
Whose job it is
For a strata building, keeping the AFSS current is the owners corporation’s duty — it applies whether or not you use a managing agent. The statement has to be renewed each year within the period set for the building, and a copy displayed and lodged as required.
Keeping the yearly deadline from slipping
The AFSS is a recurring, date-driven obligation, and the usual failure is simply losing track of when it’s due. Straita tracks the annual fire safety deadline alongside the scheme’s other recurring obligations and surfaces it before it lapses, so a self-managed committee gets a prompt in good time to book the inspection and lodge — rather than discovering the statement expired months ago.
Primary sources
- NSW Government — Strata schemes (Fair Trading) — owners corporation responsibilities generally.
- Fire and Rescue NSW — fire safety statements — the annual fire safety statement process and lodgement.