Did you ever wonder how energy efficient your home is? Well now you are required to find out. The provincial government has passed Bill 150: the Green Energy Act, forcing Ontario residents to add another task to their to-do list before they can sell or lease out their home.
Bill 150, the Green Energy Act is requiring that home owners provide information on how energy efficient their home is before selling or leasing the property. A home energy audit assess’ how much energy your home uses and if and how you can improve efficiency and lower your utility bills. Methods on how this audit will be conducted and determined will be established by a standard method as stated by the provincial government. The original bill stated that the energy audit was mandatory. The bill however has been passed but amended as home buyers will be able to waive the energy audit condition if they choose to. This legislation is expected to take effect sometime in 2010.
For many, many years, the Ontario Real Estate Association and other organizations have been encouraging the government to offer incentives to home owners to voluntarily make their homes more energy efficient. When this bill was proposed, the Ontario Real Estate association was concerned. They were hoping the Green Energy Act audit would be voluntary (with incentives) and NOT mandatory in a real estate transaction as the bill is now stating.
This bill excludes Commercial and Industrial properties.
Leave a Reply