Coldwater, ON, July 5, 2007 –  Severn Township builder, Anthony Rowe of Coldwater, was fined a total of $10,000 on May 22, 2007 by the Provincial Court on two counts of illegal building activity. 

Mr. Rowe was found guilty of failing to enrol a new home with Tarion Warranty Corporation (“Tarion”) and of failing to register as a builder with Tarion. 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, which protects the rights of new home buyers by regulating the home building industry, and administering and guaranteeing the province’s new home warranty program. 

Home builders are also required to enrol every new home with Tarion prior to its construction.  “Ontario’s residential construction industry is regulated so that homeowners can trust that their builder has the necessary resources and ability to construct a suitable home.  Mr. Rowe violated that trust when he failed to register with Tarion and enrol this new home with us.  This resulted in the purchaser not being apprised of the warranty rights he is entitled to by law.” said David Roberts, Director of Enforcement at Tarion. “Tarion’s investigative team is dedicated to protecting new home buyers as well as the overall credibility of the residential construction industry. We do this by working in the field every day, with municipalities, building officials, the Ontario Ministry of Labour and local Home Builders’ Associations to root out fraudulent builders.”  

Illegal building in the residential construction industry is a serious problem in Ontario and the provincial courts are responding with heavy fines and even jail time. Tarion employs a team of former police officers who work with building and municipal officials to uncover illegal building in Ontario. In 2006, Tarion’s Enforcement Department laid 364 charges against illegal builders and a total of $ 674,320 in fines was levied by the courts.

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. In addition, new home buyers are encouraged to visit the “Find a Builder” section of Tarion’s website to confirm that their builder is registered to build in the province of Ontario and to obtain additional information from other customers about the builder’s after-sales service performance.

About Tarion

Tarion Warranty Corporation is a private corporation established in 1976 to serve as the Regulator of the new home building industry in Ontario. In this role, Tarion licenses all new home and condominium builders pursuant to provincial legislation. This statute requires new home builders to provide purchasers with warranty coverage that is guaranteed by Tarion.  The Corporation also establishes minimum time standards for after-sales service, and adjudicates issues between homeowners and builders.  Over 1.45 million homes in Ontario have been protected under warranty by Tarion.

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For more information, please contact: Sarah Lieberman, Corporate Affairs Specialist, at (416) 229-3876 or sarah.lieberman@tarion.com