NEWS RELEASE

 OTTAWA, ONTARIO - January 21, 2005  Canadians for Properly Built Homes (CPBH) is calling on the City of Ottawa to immediately increase its budget for new home inspections to ensure that all new homes in the City of Ottawa comply with the Ontario Building Code (OBC). Building permit revenues have been described by the media as a "cash cow" for the City of Ottawa, noting that in 2003 this area took in about $17.4 million. The City reallocated approximately 50 percent of those funds, or $8.7 million, to other areas of business.

"For the last four years, the City of Ottawa has been citing numerous problems in achieving its obligations to ensure that new homes comply with the Ontario Building Code. New home owners have suffered the consequences," said Karen Somerville, President of CPBH. "Canadians for Properly Built Homes challenges the City of Ottawa to ensure, through the budget process, that it can meet these obligations by properly supporting new home inspections financially. Taxpayers deserve and are entitled to no less."

CPBH recognizes and acknowledges that there are some good builders operating in Ottawa, but there are clearly some builders producing inferior new homes. Some of the resulting problems, and the potentially serious outcomes of those problems, include: homeowners living in homes that do not meet the minimum health and safety standards of OBC; unscrupulous builders who do not meet their OBC obligations and shirk their responsibility to fix them, leaving many homeowners with houses they can not or should not sell, which can lead to ruinous financial situations; the reluctance of homeowners to speak openly due to the litigious nature of many builders and the fear of negatively influencing resale values; the health of some homeowners being negatively affected, for instance, through carbon monoxide poisoning, asthma or other problems from mould and the effects of off-gassing; and the unavailability of the courts to most citizens because of the cost.

Even in cases of serious OBC violations over the past few years, CPBH is aware that City of Ottawa officials have repeatedly blamed these problems on others including the builders, the shortage of trades people, the shortage of inspectors and the shortage of money to effect meaningful change. In this way, the City has downplayed its responsibility for ensuring builder compliance with the OBC. The City is responsible for enforcing the OBC at all times, not just when it is convenient.  As well, changes to the Building Regulatory System are effective July 1, 2005, and the City of Ottawa, like all municipalities in Ontario, must comply with these changes, which may also require additional resources for the City of Ottawa.

An October 2004 decision by Justice Charles Hackland, in Wood v. Hungerford (Township), found the Township of Hungerford jointly liable for damages for failing to ensure that the house complied with the OBC and for failing to conduct proper inspections during construction. Justice Hackland's decision noted that while the municipal inspector is not expected to discover every Building Code violation, the municipality is liable for those defects that it could reasonably be expected to have detected and to have ordered remedied.

CPBH applauds Justice Hacklands confirmation of the municipal obligation to enforce the Ontario Building Code and encourages the City to act now to ensure appropriate resources are allocated to meet this obligation.

Problems with Building Code compliance are being reported in different regions of Canada. Since federal deregulation of the housing industry about 20 years ago, new housing quality has sunk to what many now call "disposable" housing.

Canadians for Properly Built Homes (CPBH) is a national, not for profit organization dedicated to healthy, safe, durable, energy efficient residential housing for Canadians, and is the only organization of its kind in Canada. Working for consumer awareness and protection, CPBH is run by a volunteer Board of Directors and is supported by a volunteer Advisory Council of industry experts and other key stakeholders. CPBH has official supporters in different parts of Canada, is undertaking projects at the municipal, provincial and federal level and offers a variety of ways for Canadians to get involved. Visit http://www.canadiansforproperlybuilthomes.com/.

For further information:

Media Liaison: Ms. Connie Cochran, (613) 831-1871 E-mail: media@canadiansforproperlybuilthomes.com

Changes to the Building Regulatory System effective July 1, 2005 http://www.obc.mah.gov.on.ca/userfiles/HTML/nts_4_7752_1.html

Legal decision - Wood v. Hungerford (Township) http://www.canlii.org/on/cas/onsc/2004/2004onsc12473.html

 Visit our Web site:  www.canadiansforproperlybuilthomes.com

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