Tarion adds new protection for condo buyers

Condo buyers in Ontario will get greater protection following the announcement of new requirements by the province’s home warranty provider.

Tarion will says the new measures will help educate and inform prospective homebuyers and will include the addition of new search tools on Tarion’s Ontario Builder Directory and a new detailed information sheet highlighting the potential risks of purchasing certain types of pre-construction condominiums.

“The purchase of a new home is often the most important one that many Ontarians will make,” said Tarion’s President and CEO Howard Bogach. “At Tarion, we’re doing our part to ensure that these purchases are guided by a thorough understanding of the risks, builder history, and status of a given project. The initiatives that we’re announcing today will contribute to a better informed purchasing process.”

The new mandatory disclosures will be effective from January 1, 2020, and will ensure that potential buyers are aware of several key risk factors including:

• pre-construction condominiums come with the risk that they may never be completed;
• early termination conditions that would allow a developer to cancel a project; 
• information about the status of the development (e.g., formal zoning approval, relevant approval authority and date of commencement of construction);
• information about any restrictions on the developer’s land title that may prevent the project from going forward; 
• a purchaser has an initial 10 days under the Condominium Act, 1998 to cancel a sales agreement; and
• the expected date when a purchaser can take occupancy.

The new information sheet will be required for all agreements of purchase and sale for units where the purchase agreement for the project or phase of the project is signed after January 1, 2020.

However, leasehold, common element and vacant land condominiums are excluded from the requirement.