Highly Deferential Standard Applied to Safety Standards Appeal Board

On April 13, 2021, the BC Supreme Court dismissed a judicial review brought by BC Housing against a decision of the Safety Standards Review Board (the “Board”).

The Board’s decision centred on the question of whether and in what circumstances a residential builder can de-enroll a home from home warranty insurance, and involved interpretation and application of the Homeowners Protection Act .

 The Court upheld the Board’s decision, and reinforced that the standard of review to apply to the Board’s decision is the “highly deferential” patently unreasonableness standard. As the Court noted, it was not for it to “second-guess the conclusions of the Appeal Board or to reweigh the evidence.”

Arvay Finlay represented the Board at the judicial review hearing. The decision is indexed as B.C. Housing Management Commission v White Hart Homes Ltd., 2021 BCSC 674.