Responding to complaints from homeowners who are upset with their new home purchases, Ontario's New Home Warranty Program (ONHWP) has launched a new set of customer service policies. ONHWP says it is strengthening its mandate to provide consumer protection for home buyers, but critics say the program provides more protection for builders than the home buyers.

ONHWP was established in 1976 as a private corporation responsible for administering the Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act, which outlines the warranty protection that new home and condominium builders must provide, by law, to customers. ONHWP says its "primary purpose is to ensure that builders abide by this legislation, and to protect consumers when builder fail to fulfill their warranty obligations."

But critics such as Toronto real estate lawyer and writer Alan Silverstein say the program's organizational makeup "favours builders over buyers" because its board of directions is chosen by the Ontario Home Builders' Association. "As long as the status quo prevails in picking the ONHWP directors, aren't consumers justified in questioning this cosy kinship between the new home/condominium industry and its governing body? Also, should anyone expect the powerful development industry to relinquish those long-standing powers without a fight?"

Another long-time critic of ONHWP is Bob Aaron, also a Toronto lawyer and newspaper columnist. In a recent column, he wrote: "I could fill volumes with the problems in the ONHWP regime, but at the heart is the fact that ONHWP should not be controlled by the building industry but by a broad-based board with a statutory mandate to run it in the public interest."

But ONHWP says that with its new policies in place, it will be "closely monitoring the performance of its nearly 5,000 registered builders throughout the province as they adapt to the new policies. As the registrar of all builders in Ontario, the company is prepared in due course to sanction builders who fail to meet the new standards."

Under the new standards, which apply to new homes and condominiums with occupancy dates after October 1, 2003, builders are required to conduct a standard pre-delivery inspection (PDI) of each new home with the purchaser. The tour is a chance for the buyer to learn how to operate the home's systems (such as the ventilation) and to identify any missing, damaged or incomplete items. ONHWP notes that although many builders already have a pre-delivery inspection, making it mandatory "will ensure that all new home buyers have an opportunity to view their home before they move in and note any items that are in need of warranty service on a PDI form."

On or before the PDI, the builder will be required to provide buyers with a standard Homeowner Information Package that provides information about warranty coverage and instructions on how to request warranty service.

The new policies also include timelines that will clarify when and how homeowners can make warranty service requests, and the amount of time the builder has to service these requests.

"It is important to remember that the new policies represent only minimum customer service requirements," says ONHWP president and CEO Greg Gee. "Many builders far surpass these requirements already. Our goal is to ensure that all new home buyers throughout the province receive an acceptable level of customer service."

Aaron has written several columns outlining problems that consumers have had in getting after-sales service. In one case, a homeowner filed for an ONHWP conciliation hearing about 36 disputed items in a new $500,000 home. It took a year from the possession date for the conciliation meeting to come about, and just before the meeting, 12 of the disputed items were fixed by the builder. Of the other items, only two were deemed as a breach of the warranty.

Among the items that were dismissed as either not covered by the warranty plan or minor issues were: