Your Home Swimming Pool and Your Legal Interests

You may have long dreamed about having a swimming pool at your home. If you’re considering purchasing a residence with a pool, or if you are contemplating installing one at your home, you need to have a basic understanding of the legal ramifications of a pool at your home.

Local Ordinances Regarding Pools

Many local communities in Scottsdale/Phoenix - Arizona and elsewhere around the country have established specific ordinances regarding residential pools. Before you purchase a home that comes complete with a pool, or before you start the process of installing one in your home, you need to familiarize yourself with the rules and regulations regarding inground swimming pools in your community.

Many communities have what are known as “411” services through which you can find out where to go for more information about different ordinances and regulations. Websites maintained by Arizona cities and towns typically have easy to access portals through which you can obtain the specific regarding residential pool regulation.

Reasonable Standard of Care to Safeguard Your Pool

In addition to any specific ordinances, rules, and regulations that might be in place in your city or town for a home swimming pool, there is a long-established legal standard across the United States that you need to exercise reasonable care to protect others from injury on your property. There are some limited exceptions to the application of this standard, which are discussed later in this blog post.

The reasonable standard of care associated with a residential swimming pool involves taking those steps that protect against a drowning accident or other injuries. The standard doesn’t mean that a homeowner needs to take all imaginable steps to fully protect against accidents. Rather, the standard necessitates judicious or sensible steps to guard against foreseeable types of accidents (like a child drowning if access to the pool is possible without an adult present).

Reasonable Pool Safety Protocols

There are a number of protocols that commonly are considered reasonable steps a homeowner needs to take to prevent accidental drowning. These are designed particularly to protect against a child accidentally drowning in a residential swimming pool.

A residential swimming pool should have a perimeter fence. The gate into the pool area should be locked. In addition, the gate should be outfitted with an alarm that sounds if there is ever an unauthorized or unplanned attempt to enter into the pool area. If there is a door that connects a house itself with the pool enclosure, that door should also have a lock as well as an alarm.