What is a Tarion Warranty

A Tarion warranty ensures that one of life’s biggest investments is protected. Almost every new home and condominium in Ontario is covered by a new home warranty. This warranty protection is provided by builders and backstopped by Tarion.

What Tarion does:

• Protecting consumers when builders fail to fulfill their warranty obligations.

• Educating new home buyers and new homeowners about their warranty rights and responsibilities.

• Administering the MyHome online portal, which allows homeowners to manage their warranty and report defects to the builder and Tarion.

• Facilitating the fair resolution of disputes between homeowners and builders over warranty coverage, repairs, or customer service.

• Assessing warranty claims to determine if they are valid either through an on-site inspection or alternative method of investigation.

• In cases where a builder fails to address a valid warranty claim, resolving the claim directly with the homeowner either through compensation or repairs by a third party; and

• Managing a guarantee fund to protect new home buyers, out of which compensation for warranty claims is paid.

By law, all new homes built in Ontario are provided with a warranty by the builder. Tarion’s role is to ensure that buyers of newly built homes in Ontario receive the coverage they are entitled to under their builder’s warranty.

The seven-year warranty includes significant damage due to soil movement, major cracks in basement walls, collapse or serious distortion of joints or roof structure and chemical failure of materials. It also includes environmentally harmful substances or hazards. 

For new homes, the vendor or builder pays the warranty enrolment fee to Tarion as a term and condition of an Enrolment Confirmation. For freehold homes, the fee is payable anytime before the start of construction. For condominium projects, the fee is payable at least 30 days before construction begins. (Source: tarion.com)