Alberta’s New Home Buyer Protection Act
Saturday, October 26th, 2013
One of the major advantages of buying a new, as opposed to previously owned, home has long been the warranty coverage. To some buyers’ chagrin, however – especially those buying homes in the mid-2000s, when labour shortages occasionally led to substandard subcontractor work – the warranty coverage maxed out at a mere 12 months. Issues that didn’t show themselves within that one year window became the homeowner’s responsibility. The vast majority of homes in Calgary are, and have been, built to high standards that lead to extremely happy homeowners. For the unlucky few, however, the short warranty has been problematic.
New home buyers can rejoice, then, as the new year will bring with it the Alberta New Home Buyer Protection Act, a piece of legislation aimed at raising the standard of construction in our fine province, making builders increasingly accountable for the products that they sell. Details are available here, but the highlights include a minimum of ten years’ coverage on major structural components, and five years of building envelope protection (with the mandatory option for homeowners to be able to purchase additional coverage).
Now, labour and materials still fall under one year’s worth of coverage, but in certain cases that coverage extends to two years, so there’s progress even on this front.
Is this Act the ideal level of protection for all new home buyers? No, of course not. It would be nice to see labour and materials be covered for longer periods of time. It’s certainly a step in the right direction, though.
