Major Initiatives

The HPO undertakes a number of major initiatives in carrying out its mandate to strengthen consumer protection for buyers of new homes, to help bring about improvements to the quality of residential construction, and support research and education with respect to residential construction in British Columbia.

Major initiatives covered in this section include:

Raising the Bar
In response to industry’s desire to enhance professionalism in residential construction, the Province through the HPO, established a collaborative process with industry in 2006. The goal was to develop recommendations for a proposed new system of qualifications for licensees under the Homeowner Protection Act.  A broad spectrum of industry representatives participated in the process. In October 2008, an industry task group reached consensus on a series of recommendations for government. See the Main Task Group Report for a description of what the new proposed system would look like.

• Main Task Group Report to the Homeowner Protection Office - Results of the Collaborative Process to Design a Minimum Qualifications System for Licensees to be required under the Homeowner Protection Act (2008)
• Main Task Group Report to the Homeowner Protection Office - Results of a Collaborative Process to Design a Minimum Qualification System for Licensees to be required under the Homeowner Protection Act (2006)
  • Provides a summary of the issues discussed as part of the collaborative process and the consensus decisions reached.

Implementing industry recommendations and new HPO licensing requirements will require changes to the Homeowner Protection Act regulation.

HPA Amendments
The Homeowner Protection Amendment Act strengthens protection for new homebuyers across the province and is a major step forward in raising the bar of professionalism in the residential construction sector in British Columbia.

Green Roofs
The HPO is proactively engaged in helping industry to resolve the issues surrounding green roof technology and the system of consumer protection for new homebuyers in BC.