Buyer's Guide

Condo Fees and the Contingency Fund

By Georges Matar · August 1, 2026 · 7 min read

The number printed on the condo fee line of a listing tells you almost nothing on its own. What you buy with a fraction of a divided co-ownership is a share in the upkeep of an entire building, and Quebec has tightened the rules around that upkeep considerably since 2019. Here is where the law stands, and what you are entitled to see before you sign.

What the fees cover, and why two similar buildings differ

Article 1064 of the Civil Code sets the rule: each co-owner contributes, in proportion to the relative value of his fraction, to the expenses arising from the co-ownership and the operation of the immovable, and to the contingency fund and the self-insurance fund. Co-owners who use common portions for restricted use bear those particular expenses alone.

Two buildings at the same price can therefore post very different fees without either one being badly run. An elevator, a pool, an underground garage, a flat roof, central heating included in the charges: each adds an expense today and a replacement to finance later. The number of units matters just as much, since that is what the bill is divided among, and the age of the building decides when the big-ticket items arrive. Before comparing two numbers, compare what they buy. Condo or house is first a question of how much you want to delegate.

The contingency fund belongs to the syndicate

Article 1071 is short and decisive. The syndicate establishes, according to the estimated cost of major repairs and the cost of replacement of common portions, a contingency fund that is liquid and available at short notice, allocated solely to those repairs and replacements. The fund is the property of the syndicate.

Two practical consequences follow. Your contributions are never handed back when you resell: they stay in the fund, and their value shows up in the price of the unit, not in a cheque. And the fund does not pay for routine maintenance.

What changed on 14 August 2025

That is the date the regulation implementing the 2019 Bill 16 measures came into force. Two documents became mandatory for every divided co-ownership in Quebec.

The maintenance logbook, under article 1070.2 of the Civil Code. The board has a logbook drawn up describing the maintenance done and to be done. The regulation sets its content: an inventory of the common portions and materials, their condition and remaining useful life, the major repairs and replacements projected over 25 years with their estimated year, and a record of work already carried out. The board updates it yearly and has it revised every five years.

The contingency fund study, built on that same 25-year horizon. It states the fund balance and the estimated cost of each major repair in its year of execution, then recommends the minimum that must be available at the start of each year and the amounts to be paid in annually. The board obtains a new study every five years.

Neither document is improvised. The regulation reserves their preparation to an engineer, a chartered appraiser, an architect or a professional technologist, and the study also to a chartered professional accountant, all independent of the co-ownership.

The calendar matters. Existing co-ownerships have three years and one day from 14 August 2025, so until August 2028, to obtain a first logbook and a first study. Many buildings will not have them yet when you visit: that is not a fault, but it is one less piece of information. Where the study shows the fund is insufficient, the board adjusts contributions, with a maximum of ten years to reach the required level. In a newly built co-ownership, until the first study is obtained, the amounts paid into the fund correspond to 0.5% of the building’s reconstruction value.

The self-insurance fund and the syndicate’s insurance

The contingency fund is not the only one. Since 15 April 2022, article 1071.1 has required the syndicate to establish a self-insurance fund, liquid and available at short notice, also its property. It pays the deductibles under the syndicate’s policies and repairs property in which the syndicate has an insurable interest when neither the insurance nor the contingency fund can cover it. It is capitalized up to the highest deductible in the contract, excluding any earthquake and flood deductibles. A high deductible is therefore a recurring cost for everyone, not just a figure in a policy.

Article 1073 governs the insurance itself: the amount insured must allow reconstruction in compliance with applicable standards and must be appraised at least every five years by a member of a professional order designated by regulation. Ask when the last appraisal was done.

What you can demand before buying

The syndicate’s attestation on the state of the co-ownership, article 1068.1. The seller must give it to you in due course, and the syndicate has 15 days to produce it. The regulation fixes its content: the fund balance and the recommended amount, common expenses and results for the past three years, liquidity, the budget, insurance and self-insurance amounts, a five-year record of inspections, claims and major work, work planned over ten years, and pending litigation.
Documents and information, article 1068.2. A promisor-buyer may ask the syndicate for what is needed to give informed consent, and the syndicate must provide it diligently, at the buyer’s expense and subject to privacy rules.
A statement of common expenses owing, article 1069. Whoever acquires a fraction is liable for the common expenses owing at the time of acquisition. A promisor-buyer may request that statement, and is liable only if the syndicate provides it within 15 days.
The syndicate’s register, article 1070: declaration of co-ownership, plans, contracts, maintenance logbook, contingency fund study, minutes, financial statements, and a description of the private portions precise enough to identify improvements made by co-owners. That description is what separates the syndicate’s insurance from yours when a claim happens.

Your notary and your broker know what to pull from all of this. It is the very subject of Coproprié-T, the condominium law training RE/MAX Québec developed with CondoLegal.com.

Special assessments: who decides

Article 1072 leaves it to the board to fix, each year and after consulting the general meeting, the contributions to common expenses, to the contingency fund and to the self-insurance fund. Article 1072.1 extends the same logic to special assessments: the board must consult the meeting before deciding on one. Consulting is not the same as calling a vote, and the courts have confirmed it.

The remedy exists, but it is narrow. Article 1086.2 allows a co-owner to ask the court to annul, or exceptionally to amend, a board decision that is biased, made with intent to injure the co-owners or in contempt of their rights, within 90 days of the decision. Article 1103 offers the same remedy against a decision of the general meeting. Neither one is there to reopen the wisdom of a decision.

Low fees are not good news by themselves

This is the most common analytical error. Low charges can reflect a simple, recent building with no heavy equipment. They can equally reflect an undercapitalized fund, deferred maintenance, or a board avoiding an unpopular increase. Only comparing the actual contribution with what the study recommends settles it. Higher fees that properly finance a well-kept building buy a predictability the cheaper neighbour does not offer. And documents that never arrive, or arrive incomplete, are a signal worth taking seriously.

What your lender does with them

Condo fees count against your borrowing capacity. CMHC provides that 50% of condominium fees are included in the gross debt service and total debt service calculations, ratios it caps at 39% and 44%. Every fee increase therefore shrinks what you can borrow, which is worth building in from pre-approval onward.

Torn between two condos whose fees refuse to compare? Write to me: we will read the contingency fund study, the maintenance logbook and the minutes together before you make an offer.