Auditor-General report questions Ontario builder regulator’s lax enforcement

An Auditor-General’s report on the Ontario Home Construction Regulatory Authority has raised serious questions about whether builders who do not meet the regulator’s standards of professional conduct and financial risk have been allowed to gain or retain a license to sell new homes.

“We found that HCRA automatically approved license renewal applications of licensees with a history of conduct issues, such as breach of contract and harassment or verbal abuse, with no staff review,” reads the first line of the AG’s “what we found” section of its special report on the HCRA. The report provides a detailed look at what critics call a startling lack of activity by the HCRA, which has only been in operation for five years.