MHProNews.com published a story Jan. 15, 2014 regarding Alberta, Canada’s New Home Buyer Protection Act, which goes into effect Feb. 1, 2014, and insures all homes meet the same standards, including manufactured and modular homes. The home-building and remodeling industry has ranked in the top 10 for most complaints received by the Better Business Bureau of Edmonton for the past five years. Of the 14,689 new homes built in Edmonton in 2013, the bureau responded to 43,000 inquiries relating to home builders, mostly dealing with warranties, according to edmontonjournal.com.

 

Under the new legislation, home builders—excluding owner-builders—are required to buy a warranty for each home, costing on average $1,700-$2,000, before being eligible to obtain a building permit. Warranties are required for condos, manufactured and modular homes, single-family homes and recreational properties like cottages. In addition, each property has to be registered on line at a cost of $95 to create a public registry of the home so the status of the warranty can be followed. The Alberta government claims it will protect homebuyers and improve the quality of the homes, while naysayers protest it is a cash grab that will squeeze smaller builders out of the market and result in higher prices.

(Image credit: arabianbusiness.com–Canadian flag)