Toronto, ON, October 6, 2005 – A Cambridge-area home builder and company officer were recently charged with one count each of failing to enrol a unit with Tarion Warranty Corporation (“Tarion”).

Frank Rocha Construction Ltd. of Branchton, Ontario was fined a total of $31,250 in Brantford Provincial Court on September 20, 2005. In addition, company officer Sally Rocha was fined a total of $15,625.

Under the Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act (“the Act”) every builder or vendor of a new home sold in the Province of Ontario must be registered with Tarion and must enrol each new home prior to its construction.  Builders who do not register with Tarion and enrol new homes in Ontario’s mandatory warranty program often do not inform purchasers of their right to statutory warranty coverage.

“New home builders know they must enrol every home they build with Tarion. It’s clearly stated in the Act and if a builder doesn’t enrol a home, he’s breaking the law,” said David Roberts, Director of Enforcement at Tarion. “This company ignored repeated requests by the homeowner and by Tarion to enrol the home. The court viewed the builder’s non-compliance seriously, therefore high fines were levied in this case.”

In 2004, Tarion’s Enforcement team laid 993 charges against illegal builders.  A total of $575,000 in fines was levied by the courts and two repeat offenders received jail time.

Details about illegal home builder convictions and license revocations are available through Tarion’s website at www.tarion.com or by calling 1-877-9TARION. In addition, consumers are encouraged to visit the “Find a Builder” section of Tarion’s website to confirm that a builder is registered and to obtain additional information about their after-sales service performance.      

If you suspect that illegal building is taking place in your community, you can anonymously report this information by calling Tarion toll-free at 1-800-786-6497 or by sending an email to enforcement@tarion.com.

About Tarion
Tarion Warranty Corporation is a private corporation established in 1976 to administer the Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act which outlines the warranty protection that all builders must provide to new home and condominium buyers in Ontario. Tarion licenses home builders and ensures that they abide by this legislation, and that consumers are protected when builders fail to fulfill their warranty obligations. Since its inception, over 1.3 million homes have been enrolled by the Corporation.

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For more information, please contact: Janice Wong, Senior Manager, Corporate Communications,  Corporate Affairs at 416-229-3863 or janice.wong@tarion.com