Alberta to make new build warranties mandatory
By Darcy Henton, Calgary Herald June 8, 2011
In a long-awaited move to bolster new homebuyer protection, the Stelmach government has announced plans to make new home warranties mandatory, extend warranty coverage and dramatically hike maximum fines for building code violations.
Municipal Affairs Minister Hector Goudreau also announced “a broad review” of the home inspection system, additional training for safety code officers, and a longer statute of limitations for charging builders with building code violations.
The moves, recommended in a government report three years ago in response to complaints of leaking and rotting residences, are expected to take effect next year.
The Herald reported last month that Goudreau planned to make new home warranty programs mandatory in the aftermath of a forced evacuation of a recently constructed Fort McMurray condominium complex that was deemed structurally unsafe.
“Eighty per cent of homes are covered by warranty programs of one type or another and our intent is to make 100 per cent covered by warranty programs,” Goudreau said Tuesday.
“We’re getting some very strong positive signals from the construction industry that it is very manageable in the province of Alberta, so we’re very strongly headed in that direction.”
Alberta will join British Columbia, Ontario and Nova Scotia in making new home warranties mandatory, Goudreau said.
The move was applauded by the Calgary Region Canadian Home Builders’ Association, but a Calgary professor of architecture said the changes won’t resolve the issue of industry accountability.
Home Builders’ Association president David Hooge of Stepper Homes said the vast majority of builders already build to standards above code and offer new home warranties, but this will bring all builders to a level playing field.
“It will encourage better building,” he said. “That’s what we all want. I think it’s positive.”
But Tang Lee, a University of Calgary professor in the faculty of environmental design, said the measures won’t be a silver bullet to ensure homebuyers are protected from shoddy builders.
“It’s a step in the right direction,” he said.
Lee said warranty programs offered by builders and insurance companies tend to favour builders over buyers, so making them mandatory won’t dramatically improve the plight of homebuyers.
The programs require buyers to go to binding arbitration, which negates their ability to sue if they aren’t ultimately satisfied, he added.
“It really doesn’t protect home owners,” Lee said. “Having it government-run would be better.”
Warranties will now include five years of coverage for building envelope issues that usually involve moisture appearing in poorly constructed homes and condos.
The five-year coverage for structural problems will be doubled.
But Lee said extending warranty coverage may not be sufficient because moisturerelated problems often don’t surface for a decade.
“In most of the cases I have been involved in, it has been 10 to 15 years down the line before the defects really showed up,” he said. “Water gets in the wall and won’t show up until it rots the wood.”
Goudreau defended the delay in making the changes, saying the province “didn’t want a Band-Aid solution.”
Under the proposed changes, which still must be passed by the legislature next year, the maximum penalty for building code violations will jump from $15,000 to $100,000 for a first offence and from $30,000 to $500,000 for subsequent violations.
Builders can be charged for safety code violations up to three years after buyers take possession of their homes.
The government has also directed the Alberta Safety Codes Council to provide additional building envelope training to all safety codes officers in the province within a year.
Nick Trovato, the managing principal of engineering firm Read Jones Christoffersen, which does a lot of work fixing problem condos, called the announced changes “a start.”
dhenton@calgaryherald.com
The moves, recommended in a government report three years ago in response to complaints of leaking and rotting residences, are expected to take effect next year.
The Herald reported last month that Goudreau planned to make new home warranty programs mandatory in the aftermath of a forced evacuation of a recently constructed Fort McMurray condominium complex that was deemed structurally unsafe.
“Eighty per cent of homes are covered by warranty programs of one type or another and our intent is to make 100 per cent covered by warranty programs,” Goudreau said Tuesday.
“We’re getting some very strong positive signals from the construction industry that it is very manageable in the province of Alberta, so we’re very strongly headed in that direction.”
Alberta will join British Columbia, Ontario and Nova Scotia in making new home warranties mandatory, Goudreau said.
The move was applauded by the Calgary Region Canadian Home Builders’ Association, but a Calgary professor of architecture said the changes won’t resolve the issue of industry accountability.
Home Builders’ Association president David Hooge of Stepper Homes said the vast majority of builders already build to standards above code and offer new home warranties, but this will bring all builders to a level playing field.
“It will encourage better building,” he said. “That’s what we all want. I think it’s positive.”
But Tang Lee, a University of Calgary professor in the faculty of environmental design, said the measures won’t be a silver bullet to ensure homebuyers are protected from shoddy builders.
“It’s a step in the right direction,” he said.
Lee said warranty programs offered by builders and insurance companies tend to favour builders over buyers, so making them mandatory won’t dramatically improve the plight of homebuyers.
The programs require buyers to go to binding arbitration, which negates their ability to sue if they aren’t ultimately satisfied, he added.
“It really doesn’t protect home owners,” Lee said. “Having it government-run would be better.”
Warranties will now include five years of coverage for building envelope issues that usually involve moisture appearing in poorly constructed homes and condos.
The five-year coverage for structural problems will be doubled.
But Lee said extending warranty coverage may not be sufficient because moisturerelated problems often don’t surface for a decade.
“In most of the cases I have been involved in, it has been 10 to 15 years down the line before the defects really showed up,” he said. “Water gets in the wall and won’t show up until it rots the wood.”
Goudreau defended the delay in making the changes, saying the province “didn’t want a Band-Aid solution.”
Under the proposed changes, which still must be passed by the legislature next year, the maximum penalty for building code violations will jump from $15,000 to $100,000 for a first offence and from $30,000 to $500,000 for subsequent violations.
Builders can be charged for safety code violations up to three years after buyers take possession of their homes.
The government has also directed the Alberta Safety Codes Council to provide additional building envelope training to all safety codes officers in the province within a year.
Nick Trovato, the managing principal of engineering firm Read Jones Christoffersen, which does a lot of work fixing problem condos, called the announced changes “a start.”
dhenton@calgaryherald.com
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Tories+toughen+rules+homes/4910009/story.html#ixzz1OinPrZjd
0 comments on “Tories to toughen rules on homes”