Tarion Warranty Corporation

I am 16 months into my new home and i am still fighting Tarion thru the LAT process on my 30 Day deficiencies. There has to be a better, more honest and transparent way for homeowners to get the warranty they paid for. You pay Tarion for warranty then pay them again for Conciliation and then they get the lawyers to fight you when you disagree with their decisions. The investigation process is limited. My experience is that no matter how much evidence you bring to justify your issues those items of evidence get over looked. My first inspector told my builder that items would not be chargeable without going to conciliation and without the inspector even stepping foot in my house. It's a stressful, long drawn out process. It should be simple:
1. Homeowner makes a list.
2. Builder fixes list by deadline.
3. Homeowner calls Tarion for Conciliation if items aren't fixed.
4. Fair, professional, qualified inspection is carried out.
5. Warranted items. . Chargeable on the spot.
6. Homeowner gets quotes to:
A.) have those items fixed by whoever they want
B.) Have the builder try again
C.) Ask for monetary compensation
Chargeability appears on Builder's Record within 48 hours or a penalty fee is paid to the homeowner.
This ensures that the onus is on the company we paid for to look out for our best interest. No more extended deadlines. Tarion needs to step up. They need homeowners in every region on their board to represent who they claim to represent... the homeowners. Tarion is severely flawed..85% of homeowners lose when they go to LAT. The builder's have the upper hand with too many extensions and deficienies ruled in their favor. The warranty needs to be extended. Flooring should be extended to 2 years. Tarion should have the builder follow strict hardwood installation guidelines. Moisture readings and proper acclamation recordings. Tarion should allow homeowner deficiencies posted, by builder, on their website.
Accountability can only happen if there is someone there to hold you to it.

Due to our dissatisfaction with Tarion, we started a petition on change.org. Our petition supporters have left some very insightful comments. Please see the change.org website for more details.
It's now been almost 15 months since we have moved into our new home and are still waiting for resolution for 30 day items which should have been resolved months ago!

The Tarion system let my family down on one of the largest purchases we will ever make in our lifetime.

We thought that as a public purpose corporation Tarion would be there to protect us as consumers and to warn future consumers if our builder failed his responsibilities and obligations. This didn’t happen in our case.

Afterall, Tarion’s tag line is: “Protecting Ontario’s New Home Buyer’s”. Unfortunately, the tag line is just a tag line. We question why we didn’t receive the protection from the designated governmental organization of Tarion we deserved and were promised.

It seems the Tarion system is designed to favour builders. As a result, the consumer is left to bear the burden of a diminished value on their home after considerable time, aggravation and legal expenses.

We don’t understand why as new home buyers we are forced to pay the Tarion tax and why there is no government oversight over what Tarion actually does with the vast amounts of money it has collected from Ontario’s New Home Buyers.

Tarion’s board of Directors is dominated and elected for the most part by the building industry so sadly it appears Tarion’s front door is broken and deemed “not warranted” to hear the voices of real consumers: Ontario’s New Home Buyer’s.

Tarion's new home warranty is very limited.They boast they insure you for around $300,000 in defects, but they refuse to cover many, relying on their deadlines and definitions. No record of these defects recorded on builder's record Tarion record. Beware of Tarion: they will fight you in court, take the builder's side, and not compensate you for home defects. Consumers complain Tarion is builder-biased, and have urged reforms.

Tarion let us down. It appeared that Tarion colluded with our builder to work against us. Tarion fought us at every turn and we ended up in court 3 times with them. Tarion seems to us to be a system designed by builders for builders protection.

I wish Ontario New homeowners had a choice to use a private company to insure and warrant their new homes and not be forced to pay for Tarion insurance.