Amendments to The Buildings Act
May 15th, 2024 by Alexandra Philippot
Amendments have been made to The Buildings Act (formerly known as The Buildings and Mobile Homes Act) which relate to the purchase and sale of mobile homes. For some time, lawyers in our office have emphasized the importance of a mobile home having a label affixed to the mobile home, such as a Canadian Standards Association (CSA) label. Without such a label, the seller was required to have the Department of Labour/Office of the Fire Commissioner inspect the mobile home and affix a replacement label. These inspections were often costly and resulted in additional work being required to be completed prior to a replacement label being affixed. One of the purposes of a valid CSA label was to address safety concerns and to ensure that the mobile home was compliant with building codes.
The amendments to The Buildings Act have eliminated the requirement for a CSA label to be affixed to a mobile home. However, this does not mean that mobile homes are not required to adhere to building codes. Instead, the amendments had the effect of putting the obligation to ensure that building codes are enforced on the municipality in which the mobile home is located, instead of the Office of the Fire Commissioner.
When homes are being bought and sold, enquiries are often made to the municipality regarding the status of building permits to ensure that the proper permits have been issued and then closed after the completion of the work. These same enquiries can now also be made with the municipality for mobile homes.
In order to help prevent issues for yourself and future owners, it is important to ensure that you obtain proper building permits from the municipality for any construction or renovations to your mobile home.
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