Who built that home?
Curious about who built the home you're buying? Or thinking about building a new home?
The Homeowner Protection Office, http://www.hpo.bc.ca, now a branch of BC Housing, maintains a searchable Public Registry of all Licensed Residential Builders and Building Envelope Renovators in British Columbia. It will also tell you whether a home built by an owner/builder can be legally offered for sale.
The Homeowner Protection Act provides for the licensing of residential builders and makes third-party home warranty insurance mandatory on new home construction throughout the province.
The licensing and warranty insurance systems work together to ensure that builders meet minimum standards and consumers are protected with a strong, third-party warranty should a construction defect occur within set time frames of two years on labour and material, five years on the building envelope and 10 years on the structure.
The registry allows homebuyers to search online for both single detached homes and multi-unit homes registered with the HPO after Novemeber 2007.
