Toronto, ON, February 6, 2006 – An Orillia builder and company officer were recently charged with failing to register with Tarion Warranty Corporation (“Tarion”). On December 7, 2005 in Orillia Provincial Court, Michael Douglas, President of Bedrock Estates (also known as 1540026 Ontario Inc) was fined a total of $12,500 for failing to register with Tarion. Bedrock Estates was also fined $12,500.

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 typically do not inform purchasers of their right to statutory warranty coverage.

“Mr. Douglas had entered into an agreement to build a home for a purchaser, however he was not and has never been registered with Tarion. In this case, although a deposit on the home was provided, the home was never even constructed,” said David Roberts, Director of Enforcement at Tarion.

The courts are taking illegal building very seriously and imposing larger fines than ever on offenders. In 2005, Tarion’s Enforcement team laid 243 charges for illegal building activity and a total of $816,516 in related fines was levied by the courts.  This represents an increase of almost 300% compared to fines levied during 2002 and a 42% increase over the fines levied in 2004.

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.

-30-

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