Homeowners

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The Homeowner Protection Office provides consumer protection information for homeowners and assistance for owners of leaky homes in British Columbia.

Home Warranty Insurance on New Homes

Homes built by Licensed Residential Builders are covered by mandatory, third-party home warranty insurance. As a minimum, this coverage includes 2 years on labour and materials (some limits apply), 5 years on the building envelope and 10 years on structure. It's the strongest construction defect insurance in Canada. Some homes have home warranty insurance that exceeds this minimum requirement.

The warranty is attached to the home, not to the owner of the home, and remains in effect upon the re-sale of the home until the coverage expires.

Strata-titled homes have two policies of home warranty insurance, one on the home and another on the common property. When the coverage of a new strata-titled home commences, it is possible that the coverage on the related common property has already commenced or expired. Coverage on the common property of strata-titled buildings starts when the first unit in the building is occupied or sold.

More information about home warranty insurance:

Maintenance

Owners of homes with home warranty insurance could limit their coverage as a result of negligent or improper maintenance to the home. Builders/warranty providers have a responsibility to provide maintenance information to the original buyers of a home, if they want to make home warranty insurance coverage conditional upon proper maintenance.

The Homeowner Protection Act regulations detail the consequences of the builder/warranty provider not providing information:

Owners of strata-titled homes also have a legal obligation to maintain the strata property. The Strata Property Act which is administered by the Province's Financial Institutions Commission details these obligations.

The Homeowner Protection Office has developed a series of maintenance bulletins entitled Maintenance Matters. These bulletins are designed to provide practical information on the maintenance of the building envelope of multi-unit residential buildings including townhouses, low and high-rise residential buildings.

Maintenance Matters bulletins are for anyone who lives in or looks after a multi-unit residential building, including residents/unit owners, strata councils, housing co-ops, maintenance managers, property managers or building owners.

Owner-built Homes

An owner-built home is a single detached dwelling constructed by a person that is neither required to be licensed by the Homeowner Protection Office nor required to arrange for home warranty insurance on the new home because the individual is building the new home for their own personal use.

Unless home warranty insurance is provided, owner-built homes are subject to the 10-year Statutory Protection provisions of the Homeowner Protection Act. These provisions hold the owner builder personally responsible to subsequent purchasers for any defects in material, labour or design for 10 years after first occupancy.

Owners wanting to rectify defects must contact the owner-builder directly. Any action by a purchaser under this section of the legislation must be commenced within the 10 year period.

See Buying or Selling an Owner-Built Home.

For more information refer to the Homeowner Protection Act regulations for new home construction as it relates to owner-built homes.

Repair Warranty Insurance on Completed Building Envelope Renovations

Building envelope renovations applicable to the Homeowner Protection Act regulations are performed by building envelope renovators licensed by the Homeowner Protection Office who arrange for third-party repair warranty insurance.

Minimum coverage for warranty insurance covering applicable building envelope renovations is set by regulation, not by warranty providers.

The coverage includes 2 years on labour and materials (some limits apply) and 5 years on the building envelope including water penetration (2-5 year warranty insurance).

Between September 30, 2000 and July 28, 2004, homes with building permits for some building envelope renovations subject to the building envelope renovation regulations received a 2-year stand alone warranty insurance on labour and materials only (the 5-year water penetration warranty insurance was not required on targeted repairs).

More information about warranty insurance for building envelope renovations:

Warranty Insurance Claims

Upon the discovery of a potential construction defect and before the expiry of the applicable home warranty insurance coverage, owner/holder must provide written notice to the warranty provider and the Licensed Residential Builder/Licensed Building Envelope Renovator:

Owners/holders have a duty to mitigate damage.

Warranty providers are required to handle claims as detailed in the regulations.

An owner can exercise their right to compel their warranty provider to mandatory mediation of a dispute. The mediation process is performed independently of the Homeowner Protection Office.

An owner/holder can request a claims history from the warranty provider.

The HPO retains a list of warranty providers approved by the Financial Institutions Commission.