New home warranty by province: Tarion, GCR, 1-2-5-10, 2-5-10 (2026)

The mandatory warranty — coverage periods and protected deposits

Province	Regime	Coverage periods	Protected deposits
Ontario	Tarion (warranty) + HCRA (builder licensing)	1 yr workmanship · 2 yrs water & systems · 7 yrs major structural	$60,000 (home ≤ $600,000); 10% up to $100,000 above; condo: trust + $20,000
Quebec	GCR plan — mandatory (Régie du bâtiment)	1 yr defects · 3 yrs latent defects · 5 yrs major defects	$50,000 — and the warranty follows the home if resold
Alberta	New Home Buyer Protection Act — mandatory since 2014	1 yr materials/labour · 2 yrs systems · 5 yrs envelope · 10 yrs structure	Per the program insurer
British Columbia	Homeowner Protection Act — third-party insurer, licensed builders	2 yrs materials/labour · 5 yrs envelope (water) · 10 yrs structure	Per the policy (combined limits ≈ $200,000)
Saskatchewan, Manitoba, NS, NB	NO legal requirement	Voluntary programs, builder by builder	No protection imposed by law

Regimes verified at source on 2026-08-12: Tarion (tarion.com — deposit protection raised in 2018: $60,000 below $600,000, else 10% up to $100,000; condos: deposits held in trust under the Condominium Act, plus $20,000 from Tarion), GCR (garantiegcr.com — covered buildings: single-family homes, plexes, condos of at most 4 superimposed private units), Alberta (alberta.ca — mandatory for any building permit since February 1, 2014, optional 2-year envelope extension), BC (BC Housing, 2-5-10 bulletin). Periods generally run from possession.

Four provinces out of eight require NOTHING

The least-known fact in the table: in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, no law forces a builder to warranty the home they sell you. Programs exist — Saskatchewan New Home Warranty, Atlantic Home Warranty, private national plans — but membership is voluntary, or held together only by a builders' association's rules. Concretely: two identical new homes, one in Regina, one in Calgary — the second carries ten years of structural coverage by law, the first only if the builder chose to join a plan.

The check takes five minutes and is worth the house: ask for the builder's warranty plan name and registration number, then verify it on the program's registry — GCR publishes its directory, Ontario's HCRA its licence register (Ontario requires both: the licence AND Tarion registration), BC Housing its list of licensed builders. It is the Payotte posture applied to the job site: don't trust the brochure, verify at the registry.

What "warranted" means — and Quebec's tower trap

The regimes share a skeleton: a short first period for workmanship defects (1 to 2 years), a middle period for the building envelope — the water-penetration line, the most frequent claim (2 years in Ontario, 5 in Alberta and BC) — and a long one for the structure (7 years in Ontario, 10 in Alberta and BC, 5 in Quebec for major defects). On top sits deposit protection, the one that matters if the builder goes under before delivering: $50,000 in Quebec, $60,000 to $100,000 in Ontario for a freehold, mandatory trust for an Ontario condo.

Quebec's trap deserves its own sentence: the mandatory GCR plan only covers single-family homes, plexes and condos of at most four superimposed private units. A unit in a ten-storey Montreal tower is not covered by the mandatory plan — only by the developer's optional, variable conventional warranty, if any. Read it before signing the preliminary contract — whose 10-day withdrawal right exists precisely for this. And a tax reminder: a new home also carries GST/HST, with Bill C-4's first-time buyer rebate.

Frequently asked questions

Is new home warranty mandatory in Canada?

New home warranty is mandatory in only FOUR provinces: Ontario (Tarion: 1 year workmanship, 2 years water penetration and delivery systems, 7 years major structural defects — deposits protected up to $60,000, or 10% up to $100,000 above $600,000), Quebec (mandatory GCR plan: 1 year defects, 3 years latent defects, 5 years major defects — deposits protected up to $50,000, but ONLY for single-family homes and condos of at most 4 superimposed private units: towers are excluded), Alberta (1-2-5-10 since 2014) and British Columbia (2-5-10 through a third-party insurer, licensed builders). In Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, NO law requires a warranty: it depends on the builder — verify before signing, not after.

What does the Tarion warranty cover in Ontario?

Three horizons from possession: 1 year for workmanship defects and Building Code violations, 2 years for water penetration and delivery systems (electrical, plumbing, heating, exterior cladding), 7 years for major structural defects. Deposits are protected up to $60,000 (home of $600,000 or less) or 10% of the price up to $100,000 above that; for a condo, the law requires trust accounts and Tarion adds $20,000. Since 2021, builder licensing sits with a separate body, the HCRA.

Is my new Quebec condo covered by GCR?

Only if the building has at most four superimposed private units. Single-family, semi-detached and row homes and small plexes are covered by the mandatory plan (deposits up to $50,000; 1 year defects, 3 years latent defects, 5 years major defects). A unit in a tower is covered only by the developer's optional warranty, if one exists — read it line by line before signing, during your 10-day withdrawal window.

What happens if the builder goes bankrupt before delivery?

That is exactly the scenario deposit protection exists for: GCR refunds up to $50,000 in Quebec, Tarion up to $60,000–$100,000 in Ontario depending on price (condo: deposits sit in trust, hence recoverable, plus $20,000). In provinces with no mandatory regime, your recourse depends on the builder's voluntary plan — without one, you are an ordinary creditor in a bankruptcy. Hence the verification BEFORE the first dollar changes hands.

Does the warranty follow the home if I resell it?

Yes, under the mandatory regimes: the warranty attaches to the home, not the first owner. A second-hand buyer of a 3-year-old Alberta home still benefits from envelope (5 years) and structural (10 years) coverage; in Quebec, GCR confirms the next buyer is protected on the same terms. It is a quantifiable resale argument — and a question to ask when BUYING a recent home.

Sources

Still inspecting that new build?

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New home warranty, province by province: four mandatory regimes, four deserts