Input needed on a proposed new enrolment fee schedule under the new home warranty

Tarion is seeking public input on a proposed new home enrolment fee schedule under the new home warranty and protection program.
 
In the last few years, Tarion has made a number of significant improvements to the warranty and protection program to ensure new homeowners have the best protections in Canada, such as:
  • Increasing the warranty compensation limit from $300,000 to $400,000 for freehold homes.
  • Strengthened the warranty program with a new Temporary Relocation Warranty of $150/day (up to $15,000) to help homeowners who need to relocate during repairs.
  • Increased deposit protection for purchasers of new freehold homes from $40,000 to up to $100,000 depending on the purchase price of the home, and coverage available for defects relating to hazardous mould and hazardous incidents of radon contamination from $15,000 to $50,000.
  • Increased common element compensation from $50,000 per unit to $100,000 per unit and increased the maximum coverage per condominium corporation from $2,500,000 to $3,500,000.
  • Implemented a consumer oriented mediation service to assist with the resolution of disputes between homeowners and Tarion.
  • Improved customer service by enhancing service targets and quality assurance measures, creating an early intervention team to assist homeowners earlier in the warranty process.
  • Launched a consumer awareness campaign aimed at raising awareness in the new home buying community about the builder’s warranty and the warranty protection program.
  • Invested in and modernized our consumer facing website, as well as our homeowner portal - MyHome.This portal improves the user experience and provides homeowners with information about the warranty process they need to submit claims, and guides them through the claim process.
  • Implemented a risk-based inspection program to promote best practices in new home construction.
Additionally, as part of the Government’s initiative to improve the licensing of new home builders, Tarion provided capital funding to the Home Construction Regulatory Authority (HCRA) to support the first three years of its operations (2021 to 2023) and ensure it had adequate funds to launch and help build up a reserve fund.

We have also taken necessary actions to support our industry stakeholders during this period, including:
  • Streamlined the enrolment process to process enrolments at the same time as builders may be working to obtain a license with the HCRA, which generally make obtaining necessary approvals faster. 
  • Modernized our online builder portal – BuilderLink – to help them access information about claims, process payments to Tarion for enrolments, and improve the user experience and functionality. 
  • Changed the process for annual reviews for all homes except for standard condo projects, moving to a risk-based model so that annual reviews are not conducted unless required.
  • Introduced a new Industry Relations Team as a dedicated resource to provide one-on-one guidance, support, and education to builders. 
The initiatives described above, including the funding to assist with the launch of the HCRA, were implemented without a corresponding increase in enrolment fees during the period. In addition, enrolment fees have not been adjusted for general inflation during the period, or historically.

Given recent financial market volatility, inflationary effects including the rising costs of construction and repairs, as well as the ongoing need for investments in the operations of the organization to continue to improve service delivery, Tarion is proposing to implement changes to our enrolment fee structure.

You can find the proposed new fee schedules here.

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