New home warranty and the pre-delivery inspection, explained.

The legal framework

New home warranty coverage in Alberta is governed by the New Home Buyer Protection Act, in force since February 1, 2014, along with the Home Warranty Insurance Regulation that sets out specific coverage terms. It's administered by the Residential Protection Program (RPP) under Alberta Municipal Affairs — not a single government-run insurer. Instead, the Act requires builders to carry warranty coverage through a private, government-licensed warranty provider.

Several warranty providers are currently licensed to sell this coverage in Alberta, including Alberta New Home Warranty Program (ANHWP), National Home Warranty, and others. Which provider covers your specific home depends on which one your builder is enrolled with — it's not a single universal policy.

What's covered, and for how long

Alberta's statutory minimum warranty periods are tiered — different parts of the home are covered for different lengths of time, all starting from your possession date, not from whenever a problem happens to be discovered:

• 1 year — labour and materials, covering general construction defects
• 2 years — delivery and distribution systems: electrical, plumbing, and heating
• 5 years — building envelope protection against water penetration (sometimes extendable to 7 years as an optional upgrade through some providers)
• 10 years — major structural components, like the foundation and framing

These are legislated minimums — a specific warranty provider's policy could offer more in some areas, but not less. Read your specific policy document rather than assuming every provider's coverage is identical beyond these floors.

Coverage dollar limits

Alberta's legislated warranty coverage also has minimum dollar limits on how much a claim can be worth:

• $265,000 minimum for a single-family home
• $130,000 minimum per unit in a condo or multi-family building
• Up to $3.3 million for common property in a multi-family project

Deposit protection

This is a genuinely different thing from the warranty coverage above, and worth not confusing: deposit protection covers the money you've paid a builder if they become insolvent before construction is complete — not defects in a home you've already taken possession of.

Unlike the core warranty coverage, deposit protection in Alberta is not a legislated requirement — it's a product individual warranty providers choose to offer, and coverage varies. As one example, ANHWP's own deposit protection product covers up to $100,000 for a single-family home and $50,000 per multi-family unit, and ANHWP itself describes this coverage as optional rather than government-mandated.

The pre-delivery inspection (PDI)

A pre-delivery inspection is a walkthrough of your home with a builder representative shortly before possession, where you document any visible deficiencies — a scratched countertop, an unfinished paint touch-up, a door that doesn't close properly — before you move in. This deficiency list becomes your baseline: it's what the builder is expected to fix, and it's the reference point if a warranty claim comes up later.

Alberta's New Home Buyer Protection Act does not spell out PDI mechanics by name the way it does the warranty coverage periods above. In practice, a documented walkthrough is standard industry practice tied to warranty enrollment, not an optional courtesy from the builder.

Who has to carry it

Warranty coverage has been mandatory for most new residential construction with a building permit issued on or after February 1, 2014 — covering single-family homes, multi-family buildings, duplexes, condos, and manufactured and recreational properties. A builder selling an unenrolled home can face administrative penalties.

The main exemptions:

• Owner-builders with a valid Owner Builder Authorization, building for their own use rather than to sell
• Multi-family rental units retained as rentals for at least 10 years
• Homes on federal lands — First Nations reserves and National Parks
• Renovations that don't amount to substantially new construction

If you're buying from a builder rather than an owner-builder, warranty coverage should be the default, not something you have to negotiate for.

Checking a builder's standing

Alberta maintains a public registry covering both builder licensing status and property-level warranty coverage — searchable through alberta.ca. Check a specific builder's current licence status and enforcement history, and confirm a specific property's warranty coverage and provider, before you sign a purchase agreement, not after.

Filing a claim and resolving disputes

If something covered by your warranty goes wrong, the general process is: confirm the issue falls within your current coverage period, contact your warranty provider directly to file a claim, and the provider assesses the issue and coordinates repair with the builder.

If you and the provider disagree on a claim, there's an escalation path rather than a dead end: raise it with the provider's Claims Assessor, then a Complaints Officer if still unresolved. Beyond that, homeowners can bring a warranty-insurance dispute to the General Insurance OmbudService (GIO) — a free, independent, though non-binding review — and some providers separately offer voluntary mediation for builder-contract issues that sit outside the warranty policy itself.

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