NEW HOMES & CONDOS 29
The Toronto Sun n FRIDAY, ApRIl 4 & SUNDAY, ApRIl 6, 2014
MyHome: The simplest way to manage your
new home warranty
HOWARD BOGACH
YOUR NEW
HOME
T
arion has continued to
evolve over the past few
years to help us better
serve the hundreds of thousands of homeowners who
have purchased new homes
and condos across Ontario.
We know that owning a
home comes with a great deal
of responsibility, and keeping
track of all the tasks involved
can be complicated. This is why
we are always striving to make
managing your home’s warranty more convenient.
Tarion is constantly updating our online service, called
MyHome, which is designed to
help homeowners stay on track
when it comes to their warranty
coverage.
Just about all new houses
and condominiums in Ontario
come with a mandatory warranty that begins when you
sign a purchase agreement, and
lasts seven years from the date
of first possession. This means
that if you are a new homeowner, you have warranty protection, guaranteed by Tarion
Warranty Corporation.
MyHome is the simplest way
to manage your warranty. As
soon as you take possession of
your home, you can register.
The service allows homeowners to securely submit 30-day,
Year-End and Second-Year
Forms.
You can also view any submitted forms and official correspondence. Tarion will send
you automatic email alerts
so you don’t miss any impor-
PRE-CONSTRU
tant deadlines. This is crucial, because timing is essential when submitting warranty
forms. Missing a deadline may
delay — or even jeopardize —
a claim.
This is not a new s er vice, it has been in place since
2009, however, Tarion implemented a number of enhancements to MyHome in 2013.
These include the ability to
upload supporting documents
to an account, such as photos,
receipts and agreements, and
a feature allowing homeowners to schedule a conciliation
inspection online.
Tarion’s Accessibility for
O nt a r i a n s w i t h D i s a b i l i ties Form is now available on
MyHome for homeowners to
complete and submit electronically. A live-chat customer
support function was also
added last year to help homeowners navigate MyHome as
they use the site.
Over the years, we’ve seen a
steady increase in homeowners
using our electronic services to
manage their warranty. Our
most recent numbers tell us
more and more homeowners
are choosing MyHome, with
the number of users jumping
from 50,000 in 2012 to 73,731
in 2013. In total, 61 per cent of
all warranty forms received in
2013 were through MyHome.
MyHome isn’t the only
way Tarion has been improving and updating its services.
In the past few years, we have
been moving from a primarily
AD{TS3127137}
vided by the builder.
If you have purchased a new
home and your builder has not
informed you about the mandatory new home warranty
that you are entitled to, contact
Tarion as soon as possible. You
may be dealing with an unregistered builder, which is illegal
in Ontario.
As always, if you have a
question or would like more
information about Tarion,
visit Tarion.com or find us at
facebook.com/TarionWarrantyCorp. Finally, if you have
some suggestions on how to
improve our services, contact us through one of our
various channels. Tarion welcomes your comments on how
we can continue to improve
CALL TODAY AND RECIEVE $20,000
CTION PRICES
36 LUXURY
CONDOS
in
paper-based organization to a
more electronic-based one to
effectively serve the needs of
all our stakeholders.
In 2013, we launched multiple social media channels as a
way to engage new home buyers. Our Facebook page offers
valuable updates, educational
materials about the warranty
process and industry related
information that is relevant to
new home buyers.
Tarion’s YouTube channel
includes online videos to help
new homeowners navigate
the warranty process. We even
offer the Homeowner Information Package electronically,
which helps ensure homeowners are always accessing
the most recent version of this
document.
Even with today’s advancements in electronic forms of
communication, I still believe
there is no substitute for faceto-face interactions. Tarion
has been meeting with hundreds of new homeowners and
builders across the province
to solicit feedback from people who have been through
the warranty process. Many of
their suggestions have been
incorporated into the new features and enhancements we’ve
made to our services.
So, if you’ve purchased a new
home, sign up for MyHome to
make managing your warranty
easier. New home purchasers
can register for MyHome by
visiting www.tarion.com and
following the MyHome link on
the homepage.
You will need to provide your
home’s enrolment number
and original date of possession
(which is the warranty start
date). This information is on
the Certificate of Completion
and Possession (CCP), pro-
Tarion is constantly updating its online
service MyHome which is designed to help
homeowners stay on track when it comes to
their warranty coverage.
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our services.
— Howard Bogach is
president and CEO of Tarion
Warranty Corp., a private
corporation established in
1976 to protect the rights
of new home buyers and to
regulate new home builders.
For more information, visit
www.tarion.com.
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or In Home Presentation
Call or go online
to reserve Yours today
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