Update to Tarion: New Enrolment Fee Schedule

By Nathan Henderson and Ashley Hizo

Tarion has recently announced that there will be upcoming changes to the schedule of new enrolment fees effective as of January 1, 2024.

The enrolment fee is a one-time fee charged per home, to vendors of new homes. It is also Tarion’s principal source of revenue to finance the cost of administering Ontario’s new home warranty and protection program. This program creates statutory warranties that all builders and vendors of new homes must provide to homeowners. These warranties include that homes are fit for habitation and constructed in accordance with applicable standards.

As part of this warranty program, vendors and builders must pay the applicable fee required by the Registrar to receive Qualification for Enrolment (QFE) Confirmation and Enrolment Confirmation for each home that will be built or sold. A QFE must be obtained for every new home intended to be sold, and an Enrolment Confirmation must be obtained for every new home intended to be built.

Put plainly, to be covered under Tarion’s warranty program, enrolment is required.

In order for Tarion’s new home warranty and protection program to continue to run smoothly, changes to the fee schedule are warranted. Particularly, the new fees come as a response to the rising cost of construction and repairs which have increased the cost of claims, the recent financial market volatility, and the ongoing need for investments in the operations of the organization to continually improve service delivery.

The changes to the applicable enrollment fee include an average increase of $300, with this increased average fee being applied progressively starting from homes with sale price greater than $600,000 up to homes with a sale price of $1.5 Million. The full schedule of new enrollment fees can be found on Tarion’s Registrar Bulletin.

Similar to the present date enrolment fees, condominium units in a residential condominium conversion project will continue to have an enrolment fee two times the fee noted in the new schedule. The payment of the enrolment fee will continue to be the responsibility of the applicant who submitted the application for Enrolment of Confirmation (typically the vendor). Additionally, payment of the enrolment fee (plus applicable HST) can be continued to be paid by electronic funds transfer on Tarion’s Builderlink portal.

Changes to Tarion’s schedule of new enrolment fees will take effect on January 1, 2024. It is important to note that if a vendor submits the enrolment information for all units to Tarion through Builderlink before January 1, 2024, the present date enrolment fees will be used.

For questions related to this article or legal assistance regarding a real estate matter, please reach out to one of our experienced real estate lawyers as well as the Condo Development Team at SorbaraLAW.