Tarion 2019 Auditor General Special Audit (Bonnie Lysyk) — 65% of conciliations found builder at fault, 9,700 dismissed for missed deadlines (1,300 by 1 day), OHBA "disproportionate influence"

Claim: Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk tabled a Special Audit of Tarion on October 30, 2019. Findings:

• About 65% of 6,485 conciliation requests assessed by Tarion from 2014-2018 found the builder should have fixed defects under warranty but did not.
• Tarion refused assistance on about 9,700 requests between 2014-2018 because homeowners missed restrictive deadlines, including ~1,300 by a single day.
• Builder warranty-claim resolution could take up to 18 months.
• Tarion paid $19.8M from 2009 to 2018 to cover repairs on 869 illegally built homes.
• Tarion issued licences to builders with poor warranty records.
• "Two-thirds of Tarion staff" responsible for determining whether builders should have repaired defects "did not have appropriate qualifications."
• Senior management was rewarded for minimizing payouts; CEO Howard Bogach made $681,616 base + $87,794 in benefits in 2018.
• The Ontario Home Builders' Association (OHBA) had "disproportionate influence." Half of Tarion's 16-member board was nominated by OHBA at the time, and OHBA had to approve regulatory changes. Tarion spent ~$185,000 over five years sponsoring an OHBA conference dinner.
• 32 recommendations, 76 action items.

Sources:

• https://www.auditor.on.ca/en/content/specialreports/specialaudits/en2019/Tarion_en.pdf
• CBC News (Laura Osman), October 30, 2019.

Confidence: Verified.

Tarion's response: Reports implementing 54 of 55 follow-up action items, with the new Customer Service Standard taking effect May 1, 2024 — see Tarion claim forms post-May 2024 CSS reform — 40-day Initial, new Mid-Year, Year-End (with permanent 10-day grace), Second-Year, MSD. The 2019 Minister's Order also imposed the skills-based board model, capping industry representation at one-third.

Why this matters for Candid: This audit is the credible third-party source for "Tarion historically favoured industry" — useful when explaining to clients or buyers why the 2021 HCRA split and the 2024 CSS reform happened. Cite the AG, not Tarion's self-reporting.

Companion: Cunningham Review (2017) recommended multi-provider warranty insurance and mandatory owner-built warranty — Ontario adopted the HCRA split but kept Tarion as sole administrator (the 2017 reform recommendations that mostly weren't adopted).