Novoclimat Home in Quebec: What It Buys

“Energy efficient home” is not a legal category. Anyone can write those words in a property description, and nobody has to prove them. Novoclimat is something else: a government certification, two inspections, a certificate and a cheque. Here is what can be verified, what turns into money, and the question no public source answers.

Novoclimat, ENERGY STAR, LEED: who certifies what in Quebec

Novoclimat is a Government of Quebec program. It sets the technical requirements a build must meet to reach energy performance above what the Code de construction du Québec, the provincial building code, requires. It certifies contractors, inspects homes while the work is under way, and certifies the ones that comply. It has three streams: Maison (houses), Petit bâtiment multilogement, for buildings of three storeys or less and 600 m² or less, and Grand bâtiment multilogement, for buildings over 600 m² or with four to ten storeys.

The other names you will see in advertising do not come from Quebec.

The ENERGY STAR standard for new homes makes a house roughly 20% more energy efficient than one built to the provincial or national code. LEED is a private certification. None of those four standards opens the door to a single Quebec dollar, but all five appear on the list of certifications eligible for the SCHL premium refund.

What Novoclimat certification verifies, and what it does not

To qualify, the home must be new, built by a contractor certified Novoclimat or Novoclimat Select, registered with the program before work starts, located in Quebec south of the 51st parallel, and heated mainly by electricity or by residual forest biomass. A major renovation project can be admitted on an exceptional basis, with prior approval and on condition that every requirement is met.

Two inspections, not one. An evaluating advisor mandated by the program comes through a first time before the walls are closed. That visit includes a blower door test, which measures the building’s airtightness, and it is used to require corrections from the builder. The second inspection happens at the end of the work and leads to certification.

The program also imposes named equipment: certified heat recovery ventilators, installed by a ventilation specialist certified Novoclimat, and high efficiency doors and windows. Insulation is laid continuously, from basement to attic.

Now the limit. Certification covers energy performance and air quality, and nothing else: not the finishes, not the drainage, not the grading, not the soundproofing, not the lot. It is neither a pre-purchase inspection nor the new home warranty. The government estimates the savings on the annual electricity bill at roughly 20% compared with a house built to the Code alone. That is a program estimate, not a contractual guarantee.

The grant: $2,000 or $4,000, and only once

The grant is paid to the first buyer and to the contractor, once the home is certified.

Two definitions decide everything. The owner is the person named as first buyer in the notarial deed of sale. A first-time homeowner has never owned a home in Canada, or has not owned one for at least five years before the date the home was registered with the program.

The consequence surprises a lot of people: if you buy a Novoclimat house built in 2020 on the resale market, you receive nothing. The grant has already been paid to the first buyer, and it does not follow the building.

When the certificate arrives, the owner and the contractor receive the claim forms by email. The cheque comes by mail within a maximum of ten weeks after filing.

The SCHL premium refund: Éco Plus and Éco Amélioration

This one is open, and it is cash.

SCHL Éco Plus. If your loan is insured by the Société canadienne d’hypothèques et de logement (SCHL), Canada’s national housing agency, and you buy a newly built energy efficient home, meaning new and never occupied, you can apply for a partial refund of 25% of your mortgage loan insurance premium. You need either an eligible certification or an ÉnerGuide rating showing consumption at least 20% lower than a typical new home. Novoclimat, Maison stream is named on the list, alongside R-2000, ENERGY STAR, Passive House and LEED at the Gold and Platinum levels.

SCHL Éco Amélioration. Same 25% refund, but for a home bought and then renovated: at least $20,000 of eligible work after the purchase, on the building envelope, the mechanical systems or renewable energy.

In both cases, the application goes directly to the SCHL with supporting documents, no later than two years after your loan closing date. The stated processing time is roughly eight to ten weeks.

Watch the arithmetic: the refund applies to the premium, not to the loan. On a premium of $10,000, it is worth $2,500. Since the premium is added to the amount borrowed, see what it does to your payment with the mortgage calculator, then have your mortgage broker confirm that your loan is insured by the SCHL and not by another insurer.

Reading an energy assessment report: the three documents

An ÉnerGuide evaluation is done by an energy advisor registered with Natural Resources Canada. The advisor measures airtightness with a blower door test, records the insulation of walls, ceilings and basement, the windows and doors, and the capacity and efficiency of the heating, cooling and hot water equipment, then enters the data into simulation software. In Quebec it is done through Rénoclimat, the provincial home energy retrofit program, and the advisor hands over three separate documents.

The information sheet is the most useful of the three: it gives measured values, not recommendations.

Two reading traps. The first: since 1 October 2019, the rating is expressed in gigajoules per year, and the lower the number, the better the performance. Before that date, the scale ran from 0 to 100 and worked the other way around. A Novoclimat or R-2000 house then sat between 80 and 90. An old report showing 84 and a recent report showing 84 GJ per year do not say the same thing at all.

The second: Natural Resources Canada is explicit, the rating applies to the house, not to the household. The software uses standardized conditions for thermostat settings, hot water use and the number of occupants. Your bills will not match the rating, and a pool or a spa is not counted in it. For the real expense, you always need the last twelve months of Hydro-Québec bills.

What a seller may claim about energy performance

Section 5 of the Règlement sur les conditions d’exercice d’une opération de courtage, sur la déontologie des courtiers et sur la publicité, the regulation governing broker conduct and advertising, is short: the licence holder must verify, in accordance with generally accepted practice, the information provided to the public or to another licence holder, and must always be able to demonstrate its accuracy. Section 112 prohibits advertising that is false, misleading or incomplete, or that stays silent on an important fact. Section 83 requires informing all parties without exaggeration, concealment or misrepresentation.

The line is clear. Writing “Novoclimat home” requires the certificate in the file. Writing “energy efficient”, “high efficiency” or “green home” requires nothing, because those words point to no standard, and they give you no recourse.

What to ask for and put in the file: the certificate, the evaluating advisor’s report, the ÉnerGuide label, the equipment invoices. Add the seller’s declarations, where work done and moisture problems have to be disclosed.

What the certification is worth on resale

Here is the honest part. No public source lets me put a number on what Novoclimat certification adds to a resale price in Quebec. Neither the government, nor the municipal assessment roll, nor published sales statistics compare certified homes with equivalent homes that are not. Anyone announcing a percentage premium is inventing a figure.

What can be quantified is more modest: the first-buyer grant, the 25% refund of the SCHL premium, and the government estimate of roughly 20% in annual electricity savings. On resale, the first two disappear. What is left for the next buyer is a better built envelope, a ventilation system imposed by the program and a file that can be verified. That is real, but it is not a guaranteed price premium.

Frequently asked questions

My builder is Novoclimat certified, so my house will be too? No. Quebec says it in black and white: some builders hold the certification without systematically offering the option. Insist that the Novoclimat option be written into the purchase contract and that the home be registered before work starts.

I am buying a 2021 Novoclimat house, can I get the $2,000 and the SCHL refund? No to both. The program grant goes to the first buyer named in the notarial deed. Éco Plus requires a newly built home, so one never occupied.

Can I get the SCHL refund with no certification at all? Yes, two ways. With an ÉnerGuide rating showing consumption at least 20% lower than a typical new home, or with Éco Amélioration, after $20,000 of eligible renovations done following the purchase.

Does the Canada Greener Homes Grant still exist? No. Natural Resources Canada shows the program as closed. On the Quebec side, Rénoclimat and LogisVert, Hydro-Québec’s energy efficiency program, remain open in 2026.

Does the ÉnerGuide report replace the pre-purchase inspection? No. The advisor assesses energy performance, not the condition of the building. Roof, foundation and drain belong to the building inspector.

To go further, read what renovation money actually comes back and the GCR warranty on a new home.

A builder is announcing an energy efficient home and you want to know what is actually certified? Write to me. We ask for the certificate and the evaluating advisor’s report before signing the preliminary contract, not after.

Georges Matar

Residential Real Estate Broker · RE/MAX DU CARTIER INC.

Contact Georges