The Customer Service Standard consists of four principal elements:

1. Builders must provide a Homeowner Information Package to every new homeowner at or before their Pre-Delivery Inspection.  In addition, they must complete and submit a form to the Tarion corporate office that confirms that the Homeowner Information Package has been received by the homeowner. 
2. Builders must conduct a standard Pre-Delivery Inspection (PDI) with purchasers on or before their date of possession using a PDI Form provided by Tarion (builders that have their own PDI Form may use it instead, provided it is approved in advance by Tarion). Builders must also include a provision to this effect in every Agreement of Purchase and Sale or construction contract.
3. Standard warranty service rules that outline when and how homeowners can make warranty service requests, the timeframe builders have to service these requests, and the circumstances under which Tarion will become involved;
4. A new process called Warranty Review has been created that enables builders to request a conciliation from Tarion in order to settle a warranty dispute with the homeowner.
   

The Customer Service Standard is fully described in Builder Bulletin 42 (Revised) . All registered builders in Ontario are required to read and understand the terms of Bulletin #42 (Revised).

Builder Bulletin 43 describes the sanctions that Tarion will impose on builders who do not comply with the requirements of Builder Bulletin 42. By agreement with the industry, the escalating consequences do not take effect immediately in order to allow builders to become familiar with the new policies, however they will take effect on October 1, 2004.

Please note that the Customer Service Standard does not apply to the common elements of a condominium project or to warranty service requests related to the delayed closing/occupany warranty for homes with a date of possession on or after May 1, 2004.

1. How will the security release process for freehold homes and for condominium types A and B work under the Customer Service Standard?  (since Tarion’s new warranty service request forms, such as the 30-Day Form and the Year-End Form, have replaced the former notices and complaint letters in most instances) 

As you know, Builder Bulletin 28 (Revised) explains that security posted for most freehold homes and for condominium types A and B is released at specified times, if all issues are resolved.  For homes and condominium units with a possession date on or after October 1, 2003, Tarion will consider an “open” valid warranty service request form, such as a Year-End or a Second-Year Form, to be an unresolved item for the purpose of security release. (Please note that as Bulletin 28 requirements are met on these condominium types, security will continue to be reduced as appropriate according to our standard practice.)    

For example, if the owner of a freehold home (that was enrolled on time and does not have a private sewage disposal system per Builder Bulletin 33) submitted a Year-End Form on time, Tarion would hold the security related to that home until: a) the time to request a conciliation inspection has expired (i.e., 150 days from the start of the builder repair period) and no inspection has been requested; b) a homeowner requested a conciliation and subsequently cancelled it; or c) a requested inspection has been held and all issues arising from that inspection have been resolved.      

Homeowner complaints related to MSD and other issues will continue to be treated as unresolved issues for the purpose of security release.

2. When does a Tarion staff member get assigned to a case under the Customer Service Standard and how do I know whom to call if I have questions about a case? 

Implementation of the Customer Service Standard has required that we develop new claims management processes. Due to the high volume of Forms we receive that require no action on our part, we are not assigning cases to our Claims staff until a homeowner requests our involvement by scheduling a conciliation. At that time, a claims service representative and a field claims representative are assigned to the file.   

We have just revised our notices to the homeowner and builder about the scheduled conciliation to add the name of the claims service representative assigned to the file; that is the person to whom builders should address any questions they have about a pending conciliation. 

Please refer to “An Organization Guide to Tarion” for specific information about contacting us.

3. One of my purchasers recently brought a professional home inspector to the Pre-Delivery Inspection (PDI).  Is this allowed?

Under the Customer Service Standard, the purchaser is allowed to bring a designate with them to the PDI, and there is no restriction as to who that designate might be.  Please refer to the enclosed Notice to Vendors and Builders regarding Home Inspectors for more information.

4. What should I do if a purchaser and/or their designate does not attend the PDI?

Tarion’s expectation is that every builder will use their best efforts to arrange with each purchaser a mutually convenient time to conduct the PDI with the purchaser and/or the purchaser’s designate.

The builder's best efforts should include:

• Contacting the purchaser well in advance to set up a mutually convenient time to conduct  the PDI;
• Providing the purchaser with a few reasonable choices of date and time for the PDI; and
• Explaining to the purchaser that he/she can send a designate instead of attending the PDI personally.

If, despite these efforts, the purchaser does not attend the PDI or send a designate in his/her place, the builder should conduct the PDI on their own. The PDI Form and the Certificate of Completion and Possession (“CCP”) should be completed as usual except that the builder should note on them “Purchaser did not attend.”

Copies of the PDI Form and the CCP should be sent to Tarion as usual and should be provided to the purchaser.
 
Builders may wish to include in their Agreements of Purchase and Sale a specific provision about how the PDI date will be arranged. Builders should seek their own legal advice about
the provisions in their Agreements of Purchase and Sale.