• Changes to The Home Inspection Industry

    Monday February 22, 2016 a bill was introduced proposing to mandate the Licensing of Home Inspectors in Ontario, and to require inspectors carry liability E&O insurance.

    Bill 165, the Licensed Home Inspectors Act is can be viewed at this link

    http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/bills/bills_detail.do?locale=en&BillID=3733&isCurrent=false&detailPage=bills_detail_the_bill

    Currently in Ontario there is no regulation for home inspectors, no requirement certification, no requirement for insurance, no requirement for continuing education. This is an enormous risk for the Home Buyer, ie consumer. This poses a huge financial risk as well the condition of homes could also constitute a safety risk to homeowners

    Only British Columbia and Alberta already licence their Home Inspectors.

    With Bill 165, would make it illegal to perform a home inspection without a license and fines up to $10,000 per day could be imposed. It will be illegal for anyone without a licence to “take or use the designation “Licensed Home Inspector” or the initials “L.H.I.” or a description implying that the person is a “Licensed Home Inspector”. Again fines can be imposed

    Licensees would be required to:

    • meet a prescribed standard of practice (likely the new CSA Standard for Home Inspection which is in the process to get the national standard designation from the Standards Council of Canada)
    • comply with the code of ethics established in the regulations
    • maintain minimum insurance requirements set out in the regulations
    • and to meet other conditions specified in regulations that will likely be drawn from Home Inspector Panel Report and Recommendations to the Minister of Consumer Services December 10, 2013 http://www.ontariocanada.com/registry/showAttachment.do?postingId=14645&attachmentId=22811

    The next estimated steps:

    Feb 2016 - The first reading had a unanimous approval. There is nothing to suggest that given need to help protect consumers from huge financial disasters the members of the Assembly on both sides of the house will pass the Second and Third readings fairly quickly. March/April 2016 - The Bill may require 1 or 2 committee hearings and then be signed into legislation May/June 2016 - Expect the Minister of Government and Consumer Services (Hon David Orazietti MPP) to draw together the foundation for how a Designated Administrative Authority or DAA could be established. It is not known at this stage if a new DAA would be created or if an existing one would be tasked with taking on the Home Inspectors. Following that, the DAA would then have a number of items to create, for the regulation. Much of what they need is already in the Home Inspector Panel Report and Recommendations document

    Based on past DAA formations in Ontario, the whole process to establish the initial announcement for regulation to be in the timeframe to fit BEFORE the house rises for the summer

    Following that it is again estimated at 12-18 months to finalise the regulations, complete the transition process for which Home Inspectors will be required to meet licensing requirements and reach a point where licensing will be enforced