Home Inspector Licensing in 2014

Following the example of British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec, Ontario has just completed a four month policy project to determine the outlines for a model to be used in Ontario.

Expectations are that the Ontario Government will follow its model of using a Delegated Administrative Authority.  The DAA model still allows the government to control policies but the costs are paid by the user fees.  As noted in the OBOA journal, once these DAA’s are created they rarely ever go away.  Anyone with any experience with the government can understand how they would love to control something but not have to pay for anything.  Just another form of hidden taxation which seems to be the current way that governments are now using to take our money but not have to account for it.  Or maybe just cancel some gas plants and blow a billion dollars plus out the door of taxpayers money.

The main items that will be addressed is the requirement for a Home Inspector to carry insurance, the standard Errors & Omissions coverage and Commercial General Liability insurance.  Prior to entering into practice a Home Inspector will have to passing “industry standard” examinations and/or field tests.  There will also be requirements for ongoing Professional Development.  This may include mandatory annual testing and continual education requirements.

Status of Home Inspector Licensing

Currently there are no plans to proceed with licensing Home Inspectors in Ontario.  There was a bill in the Ontario Government which died when parliment was Progued.  According to various sources the Ontario Government is only interested in licensing Home Inspectors if they pick up all the costs involved which would included Government Officials who would be paid to supervise the Home Inspection licensing process.  So it would appear that the Government wants to appear to be pro-active, as long as it costs them nothing.  Reminds me of the Tarion debacle where they were to be stripped of their responsibility of inspecting new homes,  ( apparently they never did any of the required inspections ) but after Proroging Parliment just allowed everything to return to status quo.   Not much good news here for Home Buyers.

The Canadian Standards Association (CSA) is currently in the process of creating a Standard on Home Inspections CSA A770.  This standard will be developed in conjunction with Stakeholder input in the following Categories;  Consumer/User Interest;  General Interest;  Home Inspectors; Regulators and Service Industry.

Once the CAS A770 Standard is created the Provinces Delegated Administrative Authority will begin its implementation.  Most CSA Standards typically take about 18 months to create so the new rules affecting Home Inspectors in Ontario will most likely be in effect sometime during 2014.

The Liberals face an Election this year which may bring about a change in Government.  Hopefully the next Government will put a higher priority on protecting Home Buyers when making one of their most expensive purchases in their lifetime.