What would the Home Inspection Act require if Ontario brought it in?

Ontario passed the Home Inspection Act in 2017, but it has not been brought into force, so there is no provincial licence today. The Act received Royal Assent on April 13, 2017; e-Laws still carries the note that it "comes into force on a day to be named by proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor," and no proclamation has been made.

What the Act would require if it were ever proclaimed

If the Home Inspection Act, 2017 were brought into force, it would require anyone performing a home inspection to hold a provincial licence. Ontario.ca notes that at this time Ontario does not have mandatory requirements for home inspectors. The Act would change that by creating a licensing requirement tied to a designated administrative authority, which would set and enforce the rules.

Beyond the licence itself, the Act would require a home inspector to provide a written contract before starting work. That contract would have to disclose any prescribed insurance the inspector carries. A written report would also be required at the end of every inspection. None of these are legal requirements today, though ontario.ca and the federal Office of Consumer Affairs both suggest asking for them anyway.

On insurance, ontario.ca notes that inspectors are currently not required by law to carry any coverage, though many do hold general liability or errors-and-omissions policies. The Act would bring insurance disclosure into the contract, but the details of what coverage would be prescribed were never set out in regulation, because no regulation under the Act has been made.

What this means for you right now is that the market is entirely voluntary. The Ontario Association of Home Inspectors grants a designation called RHI to qualified members under a separate private Act from 1994, but that is a membership title, not a licence to practise. CSA Group published a voluntary national standard for home inspectors in 2016, and the Office of Consumer Affairs suggests asking whether an inspector will apply it, but no law requires it.

Before you book anyone, ask them to send you a sample of a report they have written for a comparable home: seeing the actual document tells you far more about how they work, what they examine, and how clearly they communicate findings than any credential or designation can on its own.