Tarion Warranty in a Newer Concord Condo or Townhome: Whose Claim Is It?

Published 2026 — Rhodex

In a newer Concord condo or townhome, a problem inside your own unit is your Tarion claim. Shared halls, roofs and parking are the condo corporation's claim, filed through a performance audit — and some townhome streets get no common-elements warranty at all.

A detached house has one warranty and one person who files it. A newer Concord condo or townhome usually doesn't — Concord's housing stock leans heavily toward shared-wall and shared-building construction, and Tarion treats "your unit" and "the building around your unit" as two separate warranties with two separate clocks, filed by two different people. Get that split wrong and you can spend months reporting a problem to the wrong party, or miss the window entirely.

Two warranties, two different clocks

Inside your own unit — flooring, cabinets, interior drywall, your own fixtures — the warranty works the same way it would in a detached home: a one-year period for defects in work and materials, a two-year period that adds water penetration and the electrical, plumbing and heating systems, and a seven-year period for major structural defects. You report it, you deal with the builder, you file the Tarion form. That part is on you, the same as it would be for a Stouffville or Woodbridge homeowner.

The building's shared parts — lobby, hallways, elevators, roof, parking garage, shared mechanical rooms — run on a completely different clock. Their warranty starts on the date the project's Declaration and Description is registered with the Land Registry Office, not on the date you moved in. In a project built in phases, or one where registration dragged on after the first units closed, that registration date can land well after your own possession date — which means your unit's warranty and the building's warranty don't start on the same day, even though you live in both.

The performance audit — not your form to fill out

For the shared parts of the building, you don't file a Tarion claim at all. Your condo corporation does. Tarion requires the corporation to hire a consultant to carry out a performance audit — a full inspection of the common elements for deficiencies — ahead of the first, second and seventh anniversaries of the registration date (the first-year audit is typically done roughly six to ten months after registration, giving time to compile and submit it before the deadline). The audit includes a survey of unit owners about damage they've noticed that might trace back to a common-element defect, so your input does feed into it — you just don't submit the claim yourself.

That has a practical consequence worth knowing: if the parking garage has a recurring leak or the lobby flooring is failing, calling your builder directly about it won't start a claim. The corporation's board, or the property manager it's designated to deal with Tarion, is the one who has to act. If you're on the board, or know someone who is, that's worth raising before an audit window closes rather than after.

The parcel-of-tied-land catch

Here's the wrinkle that genuinely catches Concord townhome buyers off guard. Many of Concord's newer townhome streets are freehold units legally tied to what's called a common-elements condominium corporation (a "parcel of tied land," or POTL) — the corporation exists to own and manage shared private roads, visitor parking, or small shared amenity areas, while each townhome itself is a freehold property. Tarion's rules state plainly that there is no common-elements warranty coverage for a common-elements condominium corporation, unlike a standard condo building. Your own freehold townhome unit still carries the normal one-, two- and seven-year warranty — only the shared roads and facilities fall outside Tarion's system entirely.

In that structure, maintenance and repair of the shared private road or visitor lot depends on what your corporation's declaration says, not on a Tarion claim form. Before assuming a pothole in the shared lane or a failing shared light post is "the builder's problem," check whether your corporation is a standard condominium or a common-elements one — your declaration, or a quick call to your property manager, settles it.

Exclusive-use areas like your balcony

Some items sit right on the line between "your unit" and "common element" — a balcony is the classic example, and Concord has plenty of them. Tarion looks to the project's registered declaration (often referred to by its "Schedule C" boundary description) to decide which bucket a given item falls into. It's common for a balcony slab or railing to be legally a common element that you have exclusive use of, which can mean the corporation is responsible for structural or envelope issues while you're responsible for day-to-day upkeep. If a balcony door or guard is giving you trouble, our Concord balcony guard and door piece goes into that split in more depth — worth reading before you assume either way.

What's a handyman job regardless of all this

None of the warranty machinery above changes what's genuinely outside it. Normal wear and tear, the shrinkage cracks that show up as a new building dries out, scuffed paint, a sticking cabinet hinge, or anything caused by your own alterations are excluded from every tier of Tarion's coverage, unit or common element. A touch-up paint job or a cabinet hinge swap in a Concord unit is a routine, modest handyman job — a general estimate for the area runs roughly $100 to $250 for a small job like that, separate from anything that belongs on a warranty form. If you're not sure which bucket something falls into, it costs nothing to ask your builder, your property manager, or Tarion directly before paying someone to fix it yourself — fixing it first can hand the builder grounds to refuse the claim later.

Quick answers

Who do I contact for a problem inside my own Concord condo unit?

File it yourself as a one-year or two-year warranty item with your builder and Tarion. Problems inside your unit's own boundaries are your claim, not the condo corporation's.

Who fixes a leak in the lobby, roof or parking garage of my Concord building?

Your condo corporation files that claim, through a performance audit it pays a consultant to carry out. Individual owners don't file common-element claims directly.

Does my Concord townhouse get a common-elements warranty from Tarion?

Only if it's registered as a standard condominium. A common-elements condominium on a parcel of tied land, common on Concord's newer townhome streets, gets no Tarion common-elements warranty at all.

Does the performance audit cost me anything directly?

Not to Tarion personally. Your condo corporation hires and pays the auditor as part of running the building, then submits the results as the common-elements claim.

Who can I call for a repair no warranty covers?

Rhodex can send a vetted craftsman for ordinary wear-and-tear jobs like touch-up paint or a loose cabinet hinge. Get a fixed price, priced upfront before anyone starts.

Check your own declaration before you call anyone

Your unit's possession date, your building's registration date, and your corporation's declaration are what actually decide these splits — this guide is a starting point for asking the right question, not a ruling on your specific claim. For anything disputed, your property manager and Tarion's own homeowner portal have the real answer for your project.

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