Mississauga, ON, Aug. 17, 2016 – The Ontario Association of Home Inspectors is looking forward to reviewing the draft legislation the provincial government will introduce this fall that would regulate Ontario’s home inspection industry.  

 

Today Marie-France Lalonde, Minister of Government and Consumer Services (MGCS) announced the province’s intention of continuing with Home Inspector Licensing. Just as it has for more than 20 years, OAHI looks forward to working with MGCS to continue protecting consumers who use OAHI member inspectors.  

 

OAHI will continue to promote the high level of education and professional standards as it has since 1994, as we wait for the Provincial government to pass legislation and establish ‘minimum’ standards for Home Inspector Licensing program.  “Homebuyers are welcome to visit www.oahi.com to see the extensive, mandatory and ongoing training OAHI member inspectors must pursue to maintain their standing in the association. 

 

OAHI will also continue to advocate for well-educated, professional home inspectors in Ontario,” says Murray Parish, RHI and president of the Ontario Association of Home Inspectors. 

 

“We reiterate that OAHI supports the establishment of common competency requirements for home inspectors to operate in Ontario. Licensing offers a reasonable way of permitting an individual to begin offering home inspection services to the public with the assurance of that basic competency being in place. However, it is a permit, not a designation earned through advanced training and experience. We hope to have a positive and pragmatic discussion of OAHI's ongoing role in helping to regulate home inspection professionals in Ontario,” adds Parish.  

 

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Contact

Murray Parish, RHI 

President 

Ontario Association of Home Inspectors  

president@oahi.com  

416-524-2768

About the Ontario Association of Home Inspectors

Through education and advocacy, the Ontario Association of Home Inspectors cultivates a thriving home inspection industry based on the highest standards of professional development and ethical standards. In doing so, OAHI cultivates the ‘gold standard’ for home inspectors among consumers and the government. OAHI is the only provincially recognized body of home inspectors by The Ontario Association of Home Inspectors Act, 1994 (Pr158). OAHI is a not-for-profit association.

OAHI member inspectors see homes differently.

1.   The Ontario Association of Home Inspectors (OAHI) was formed thirty years ago in 1986 following advice from the Ministry of Consumer and Commercial Relations that the industry should adopt a common Code of Ethics and Standard of Practice. The OAHI formed as a chapter of the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI) and adopted its standards and qualifications requirements.

 

2.   By 1994, the OAHI’s success in self-regulating the profession was recognized through the passage of the Ontario Association of Home Inspectors Act and its protected designation “Registered Home Inspector” (RHI). The result was that Ontario became the only jurisdiction in North America with home inspection qualification standards based on completion of community college and building code courses, and the growth of goodwill and perceived value of the RHI designation in the marketplace.

3.   In recent years, the OAHI has worked towards harmonizing qualification requirements with other Canadian provincial home inspection association members of the Canadian Association of Home and Property Inspectors (CAHPI) and facilitating the transfer of out of province practitioners.

In 2013 the OAHI, under an Ontario Sector Initiatives Fund grant from the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, contracted with Conestoga College as an impartial body to complete an occupational analysis and the subsequent development of a prior learning assessment tool to verify the knowledge of out of province practitioners and in determining equivalency with OAHI qualification requirements. This program has been completed and this Prior Assessment Learning Tool is being used to validate the knowledge of applicants.

 

4.   The stakeholders’ panel convened by the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services recommended a body and qualification system almost identical to what the OAHI has been doing since the OAHI Act was passed in 1994, only in the form of a government DAA. The committee members were instructed to leave all association partisanship at the door and no consideration was given to how the formation of a new regulatory body would affect the existence of the OAHI. The OAHI was treated just like any other association and not given any recognition as a pre-existing regulatory body.

 

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