Toronto, ON, August 26, 2005 – Residential new home builder Northern Timberhouse Limited and company president Alfredo Rico of Minden were convicted on August 4, 2005 in Minden Provincial Court on one count of failing to register with Tarion Warranty Corporation (“Tarion”) and on one count of failing to enrol a unit with Tarion. Northern Timberhouse Limited was fined a total of $6,250 and Mr. Rico was fined a total of $3,750.

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 in Ontario’s mandatory warranty program prior to its construction.

“It is usually the case that builders who fail to enrol new homes with Tarion also fail to inform their customers about their right to statutory warranty coverage,” said David Roberts, Director of Enforcement at Tarion. “This means that if there are any problems with the home, the purchaser would not be aware of the avenues available to them in the event that the builder is unwilling to make warrantable repairs.”

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