Alberta’s new home warranty program rolls out Saturday

EDMONTON- A new mandatory warranty program designed to protect people buying new homes across the province comes into affect this weekend.

The government calls the New Home Buyer Protection Act the strongest consumer home warranty protection plan in Canada.

“This legislation will help protect the single largest purchase that most people make…a home,” said Minister of Municipal Affairs Ken Hughes.

Ninety per cent of homes built in Alberta already have new home warranty, but the new legislation will require all builders to provide more comprehensive home warranty coverage for all new homes and condominiums built in the province.

At minimum, all new homes will have the following warranty protection:

• one year labour and materials – this covers the way the home was built or the materials it was built with, such as flooring and trim;
• two years distribution systems – this covers the labour and materials related to heating, plumbing and electrical systems;
• five years building envelope protection – this covers the exterior shell of the home, including the roof and walls, and includes a requirement for the warranty provider to offer the consumer the option to purchase two additional years of building envelope coverage; and,
• ten years coverage for key structural components, including its frame and foundation.

Those in the home building industry believe the new regulations will hold home builders more accountable for their products.

“Reputation is very important,” said Tally Hutchinson, vice president of the Canadian Home Builders’ Association, Edmonton Region. “And we will continue to build homes with best practice and we think that this initiative is very, very important for the consumer and for the industry.”

However, not everyone is convinced. Homeowner Meaghen Allen took possession of her home over four months ago and says she’s still fighting with her builder over several issues.

“The side of our house stairwells, we didn’t have an exit there. The garage, the electrical to the garage, lighting fixtures. Just the quality of work, the stairs, the paint,” she said. “And just too, they were building properties next door to us.”

Allen says going through warranty hasn’t worked, either.

“My experience with New Home Warranty is that they don’t do anything,” she explained. “I have dealt with New Home Warranty (on) three different houses, and three different houses, nothing out of it.”

However, the province maintains it will hold builders and warranty companies accountable. In order to crack down on negligent builders, fines of up to $500,000 can be handed out. The Superintendent of Insurance will also investigate consumer complaints against warranty providers.

“Our new home buyer protection office has compliance officers who will monitor compliance,” said Ivan Moore, assistant deputy minister, Public Safety Division, Municipal Affairs.

The Act will only apply to homes with a building permit applied for after Saturday, Feb. 1.

The New Home Buyer Protection Act was passed in November 2012, and was originally supposed to come into effect last fall. However, that date was pushed back to Feb. 1, 2014 to give warranty providers more time to prepare, the government said.

For more information on the Act, including access to warranty information, visit the Government of Alberta’s website.

Follow @CaleyRamsay

With files from Julie Matthews, Global News.