A big crack has suddenly appeared in the driveway of your six-month-old house. Is that covered by your new home warranty?
Homeowners have a new tool at their fingertips to help them better understand how warranty providers evaluate claims for possible design, labour or material defects in new homes.
The Residential Construction Performance Guide is the newest online resource available on the Homeowner Protection Office website. It explains how homes covered by home warranty insurance should perform.
Every new home built for sale by a licensed residential builder in BC is protected by mandatory third-party home warranty insurance. It's the strongest system of construction defect insurance in Canada.
"For most consumers, buying a new home is one of the largest financial investments they will make. So it's essential that homebuyers can make that investment with confidence, knowing that they will not be faced with additional expenses to repair defects after they move in," said Tony Gioventu, executive director of the Condominium Home Owners' Association and an advocate for consumer protection.
This simple, practical guide is easy to use. It outlines more than 200 possible defects that are searchable online. This includes the most common defect claims that might be submitted under a home warranty insurance policy from windows that malfunction, to driveway or interior concrete floors that have cracked, to siding that has buckled.
Designed primarily for conventional low-rise, wood-frame homes, the guide also provides some helpful guidelines for the common property of multi-unit buildings. Builders can also use the guide to help ensure that they deliver high performance homes.
