Have you recently purchased a resale home? If the house is less than seven years old, it may still have an active new home warranty.
Most newly built homes in Ontario come with a warranty that lasts up to seven years. What you may not know is that the warranty sticks with the house, not the owner. So, if you purchase a resale home that is less than seven years old, it probably comes with some warranty protection.
Protection under the new home warranty is valid for seven years from the original date of possession, regardless of who owns the home. But just taking possession of the resale home isn’t enough to take over the warranty. You need to ensure that you call Tarion to let us know you’re the new owner right after you take possession of your resale home.
How to register your new home warranty on a resale home
To register, call us at 1-877-9TARION and let us know that you want your name added to the file as the new owner. Make sure that you have your Agreement of Purchase and Sale and your transfer deed handy. We will need a copy of these documents so we can make the change in our files.
Once we’ve updated our file, we will email you a confirmation of this change and provide you with your enrolment number and a link to MyHome. MyHome is our online tool where you can keep track of all the forms previously submitted and the timelines left on the home’s warranty. You can also use this tool to complete any other warranty forms that are eligible for submission.
If you call us before you take possession, we can’t offer much information about the warranty due to privacy concerns. We can tell you if the home is enrolled with Tarion and if the home is in fact covered by the warranty, but anything more specific about the warranty can’t be given until you are registered as the new owner in our system.
How to make sure you don’t miss out on your warranty protection
Occasionally, homeowners will buy a home that has a closing date after a warranty form deadline has passed. What can you do if you’re in this position? Educate yourself about your warranty when you buy your home and work with the seller. Help them fill out the appropriate forms in order to prevent missing a form deadline.
The seller’s primary focus may be on moving and not worrying about the home’s warranty, but yours should be understanding the warranty rights you will inherit. Be diligent and work with the seller to make sure that warranty forms are submitted on time, even if it means helping the seller complete the form submission.
Not submitting the forms on time means important timelines may be missed. For all the details about warranty coverage and important timelines for home buyers, visit Tarion’s Learning Hub.
Getting warranty information about a home before you buy
What if you are in the process of shopping for a home and are interested in finding out if there is any warranty coverage left on it?
We recommend working with your real estate agent or your lawyer. They can either get the information from the seller or call us on behalf of the seller to find out if the home is covered by the warranty, the warranty start date, and who the builder is.
Only the owner on file can get detailed information about the warranty coverage and any claims made on the home, so call us right after you take possession of your new resale home.