HOMEOWNER PROTECTION ACT 

After four years of advocacy, the provincial Homeowner Protection Act (HPA) has been amended to exempt officially recognized heritage property.

The 1998 HPA was brought in following the leaky condo scandal.  The purpose of the Act is to provide protection to buyers of new homes.  Under the Act each new home in B.C. is covered by warranty insurance again defects.

Heritage got caught up with the HPA when it turned out that an old building converted into new residences was also covered by the Act.  The result was that heritage buildings were being forced to conform to code requirements that were not a good fit.  To satisfy the warranty provider, windows and doors were being replaced, not restored and repaired, and in some cases entire wall assemblies were being rebuilt as new.  The result was a significant loss of heritage fabric.

Heritage houses converted to condos were also under the gun as the HPA again applied since the condos were considered new homes.  The results were predictable — more loss of heritage character.

Heritage BC wrote to the Homeowner Protection Office in 2006 to raise our concerns about the impacts of the HPA on heritage buildings.  A meeting took place that fall, with the Office and a number of warranty companies on one side, and heritage representatives on the other, the latter including representatives of business and local government as well as HBC.

While there seemed to be little disagreement that the destruction of heritage fabric was not one of the intents of the HPA, there was no clear path forward to correct the situation.

More meetings followed.  A group of interested parties came together to represent the heritage camp.  In 2008 a report, “Some Negative Effects of the Homeowner Protection Act on the Character of British Columbia’s Built Environment”, was submitted to the Homeowner Protection Office by the provincial Heritage Branch, the City of Victoria and HBC.

With still no action, the heritage group decided in February of 2009 to take the political route.  It was agreed that municipal councils would be asked by staff to submit a resolution to the Union of BC Municipalities to seek a heritage exemption under the HPA.  Heritage BC drafted a background statement and three municipalities submitted requests.   A resolution made it to the agenda of the UBCM 2009 convention, but was not considered.

Finally, in December of 2009 Heritage BC wrote to Rich Coleman, the minister responsible for the HPA, seeking an exemption.  Encouraged by the Heritage Branch, heritage minister Kevin Krueger simultaneously wrote to Mr. Coleman, also proposing an exemption, along the lines of a recent amendment to the Energy Efficiency Standards Regulation. In March of this year of Mr. Coleman wrote to Heritage BC that his ministry would draft such an exemption, and on June 24, it became law.   The following has been added to The HPA Regulations list of exemptions:

-  In the case of a designated heritage building that is being converted from commercial to residential use, any component of the designated building that has heritage value and does not conform with the B.C. Building Code.

- For the purpose of the Act, “designated” means legally designated (protected) or included on a heritage register.  

-  The Act has also been clarified with regard to “substantial reconstruction” of a home:  unless 75 per cent or more of a residence is reconstructed, it is not considered a new home and the HPA therefore does not apply.

It has been a long road, but this looks like the right result.