A Huntsville-area home builder has received a hefty fine for illegal building activity.

For the past few years, Tarion Warranty Corporation, a private corporation that serves as the regulator to new home building in Ontario, has hired investigators to monitor builders.

Early this year, some homeowners contacted the corporation, which resulted in home builder Michael Robert Cole, owner of Briggs Timber Milling of Muskoka Inc., being fined $37,500 in Huntsville court on two counts of illegal building activity. Cole was found guilty of failing to register as a builder with Tarion, and failing to enroll a new home that he was building on Hard Court in Huntsville.

Dave Roberts, director of enforcement at Tarion, said this case is far from being unique. Illegal building happens all too frequently, not just in the Muskoka area, but across Ontario.

“Illegal building is a problem across the province and is increasing in the resort areas, such as Simcoe (County) and Muskoka, as the population increases,” stated Roberts. “We do have a concern with it so we have hired an investigator. His responsibility includes Muskoka and goes right to Manitoba, so there’s enough to keep him hired.”

The investigator currently monitoring illegal building activity was born and raised in Burk’s Falls. He is a 17-year veteran of the Peel Regional Police Department and has experience in investigations.

Tarion currently has 10 investigators across the province who work with building and municipal officials to uncover illegal building. All are former police officers. Their investigations have led to 320 convictions resulting in $616,000 in court fines last year.

“The investigators take the information that has been provided and conduct follow-up investigations,” said Roberts. “If it’s determined that a home isn’t registered, we take what actions are necessary. Some of that action means that the builder gets on board, gets registered and gets the house enrolled, which would not result in fines like this or convictions in court. Some people inadvertently get caught. We have sentenced people to jail in places like North Bay, Lindsay and Toronto.”

The new home industry in Ontario is regulated so that homeowners can trust that their builder has the ability to fulfill their contracts and complete the home satisfactorily.

“Mr. Cole made two serious infractions against that trust when he failed to register with Tarion and enroll the homebuyer’s new home with us,” said Roberts.  “It’s about consumer protection. I’ve been doing this for 15 years and I still get people who have been hoodwinked thinking someone is a nice guy.”

Under the Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act, every builder or vendor of a new home sold in the province must be registered with Tarion, which protects the rights of new homebuyers by regulating the home-building industry and administering and guaranteeing the new home warranty program. Homebuilders are also required to enrol new homes with Tarion prior to construction.  

Tarion has the responsibility of licencing all new home and condominium builders following the provincial legislation. This statute requires new home builders to provide purchasers with warranty coverage that is guaranteed by the corporation. Tarion also establishes minimum time standards for after-sales service and adjudicates issues between homeowners and builders.