I believe the maintainance regime is different in Canada/USA to the UK.
A homebuilt over here still has to be maintained to a laid down standard. It is inspected by a LAA inspector who is usually a volunteer,and it is fair to say that where a less experienced owner is involved,he is expected to provide help and guidence in order to make sure the aircraft is airworthy.If it is not he will not sign it out and if he has any issues with the owner (lack of skills etc.) he is under no obligation to sign any work.
Hence ANY LAA administered aircraft is likely to be better maintained than an average CofA aircraft. As a LAA inspector myself,I would say that the average standard of a modern homebuild is far above that of the average aircraft available to rent.
This is because the owner of a homebuilt can lavish lots of time on his/her pride and joy.
By contrast a hire aircraft is maintained to a standard that is defined ( and NO MORE ) because of the fact that it is maintained in a commercial envirement and no one can afford to lavish the same degree of love and attention.
In theory there is no difference between the two,as the owner of the hire a/c can do all the maintainance under the supervision of the engineer involved ,but as it is a commercial envirement this doesn't happen very often in the real world and almost certainly wouldn't happen with a new owner who is unknown to the engineer involved.( who is under NO obligation to opperate in a teaching mode!).