Home Inspection Services Licensing Stakeholders Meeting Tuesday 25 th June, 2013

1. Home Inspection Services Licensing Stakeholders Meeting Tuesday 25th June, 2013

3. Goals of the meeting • To discuss the engagement approach • To explain the plan going forward • To explain what has been done to date

4. Purpose of process • Increase transparency of the Profession • Ensure a minimum standard of training • Improve consistency in home inspections

5. Main points • Estimated 70% of resale homes inspected in Ontario • equates to 140,000 Home inspections in Ontario • Process is to allow consumers to make informed decisions about who to employ • B.C. AB. already licensed, Quebec initiating • 32 U.S. States are licensed

6. Public has problems • The general public faces confusion: • What is the role of a home inspectors? • When to seek a home inspector? • How can they differntiate? • What is “The standard inspection”? • Who do they turn to in event of problems with an inspector?

7. The process

8. Consultation Panel • 8-12 people picked from the Stakeholders and others • Panel representatives must have the following attributes • Affiliation to the profession • Professional Experience • Diversity of knowledge and skills sets • Availability/Commitment to the processBroad Knowledge (not just within Home Inspection) • Consensus (ability to compromise) • Technical Expertise • Political Acuity

9. Immediate MCS actions • Launch homeinspections@ontario.ca • Establish a distribution list to provide ongoing updates • Announce panel by end of July • Update Consumer education message on Ministry's web sitehttp://ontario.ca/ConsumerServices

10. Address by Deputy Minister Deputy Minister, Consumer Services Giles Gherson stated: • Topic high on agenda of Minister • 80% of Ontario economy is driven by consumer spending • MCS is there to help protect the trust and rights of those consumers

11. What has been learned to date • The overarching model applied to Home Inspection Services can be identified as falling into one of the following component areas.

12. Technical Components Items that need solutions in this component area: • Definition of Home Inspection • Scope of Inspection • Practice Standards including Potential Subject Areas The solution must present an easy to understand message for the consumers.

13. Professional Components Items that need solutions in this component area: • Education and/or level of experience and qualifications • Designations • Specialisations • Labour Mobility and Compliance The solution must present easily recognised levels help inform the public, and to provide a measure against other provincial licensing standards.

14. Consumer Protection Components Items that need solutions in this component area: • Consumer Awareness • Transparency and consistency of standards/qualifications • Ethical Standards • Financial protection such as insurance or warranties This means that the solution must provide the public with easy to understand information about the Inspection process, the ethics and standards, which should be consistent across the board and provide financial assurance against negligence.

15. Governance Componentincludes administration tasks Solutions needed for this component area are: • Process such as registration, complaint handling and discipline • Regulatory spectrum • Governance structure • Costs • Transition strategy

16. Open Discussion • The Stakeholders entered into an open discussion to identify some of the pain-points that need solutions. These included items such as: • adverse publicity in the media • educational services and costs to educate • Insurance risks vs. cost • transition timeframe (to allow existing Inspectors to reach compliance) • potential loss of workforce • increase in costs to pulbic.

17. Timeframe Ministry to be ready to make proposalsto Government in 6-9 months.