Last reviewed: 15 September 2026

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Ontario split its new-home warranty regulator from its warranty administrator in 2021

Ontario's mandatory new-home warranty is Canada's oldest and largest — but for decades, the organization holding the warranty fund and paying claims was the same organization licensing and disciplining the builders whose work it was covering. Ontario spent several years fixing that, and the fix finally took effect in 2021.

One law, one administrator, since 1976

The Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. O.31, is the statutory basis for the province's new-home warranty, administered from the start by Tarion (originally the Ontario New Home Warranty Program), a delegated administrative authority created by the province in 1976. For most of its history, Tarion did two jobs at once: it ran the warranty fund and paid claims, and it licensed and disciplined the builders and vendors selling the homes that warranty covered.

The conflict-of-interest problem, and the 2017 law meant to fix it

Having the same organization both fund a warranty and license/discipline the builders it pays claims against created an obvious structural conflict: Tarion's own licensing decisions could affect its own warranty-fund exposure. Ontario's New Home Construction Licensing Act, 2017, S.O. 2017, c. 33, Sched. 1, created a new, separate regulator — the Home Construction Regulatory Authority (HCRA) — specifically to take over builder and vendor licensing, competency review, complaints, and discipline, leaving Tarion to focus solely on administering the warranty itself.

What actually changed on February 1, 2021

The province designated HCRA as the new licensing regulator effective February 1, 2021. From that date, licensing new-home builders and vendors moved from Tarion to HCRA — builders and vendors already in good standing with Tarion transitioned automatically, while new applicants now apply directly to HCRA and undergo a criminal record check that wasn't previously required. Tarion kept its other role intact: it still administers the warranty itself under the Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act — collecting enrollment fees, processing claims, and paying out — just without also being the builder's licensor and disciplinarian.

A different split from Quebec's fix to the same underlying problem

Our Quebec page covers a related but structurally different reform: Quebec's 2015 regulation didn't create a separate licensing regulator — it consolidated warranty *administration* itself into one arm's-length nonprofit (GCR), replacing multiple builder-affiliated groups that had administered the plan before. Ontario's fix keeps one administrator (Tarion) but adds a second, separate organization for licensing; Quebec's fix keeps licensing separate from warranty administration but consolidates administration itself into a single arm's-length body. Different mechanisms, aimed at the same underlying conflict-of-interest concern.