Buying a Triplex in Laval: The Checks

A triplex is not bought the way a house is. The asking price says nothing about real income, the rents in place cannot be corrected at will, and the City has a say in how many units you think you are buying.

Here is what to verify before making an offer on a three-unit building in Laval. General information only: confirm your file with a lender and a notary. If this is your first building, start with the income property guide.

The down payment turns on one question: will you live there?

That is the pivot of the whole file, and it depends on neither price nor neighbourhood.

The first row is CMHC Purchase. The second is CMHC Income Property: a credit score of at least 600 for one borrower, and a 25-year maximum amortization.

So the same triplex asks 10% while you live in it and 20% the day you move out. Under 20% the loan is insured: the premium is added to the amount borrowed, but the Quebec tax on that premium is paid in cash at the notary. See the 20% down payment myth.

How a lender counts the rents on a three-unit building

This is the most common unpleasant surprise. On an owner-occupied duplex, CMHC allows up to 100% of gross rents to be added to your income. From the third unit on, only two methods remain: up to 50% of gross rents, or net rental income, meaning rents minus operating expenses. In practice, half the rent roll disappears from the income a lender is willing to see, which is exactly why a triplex that looks affordable on paper can fail to qualify.

Add CMHC’s ratios, 39% of gross income for housing costs and 44% for total debt, and a qualifying rate that is the greater of your contract rate plus 2% or 5.25%. Test your scenario with the mortgage calculator and the affordability calculator before you visit.

The taxes: municipal, school, and the one on the deed

The municipal tax bill. Ask for the real account, not an estimate off the listing sheet. Good news: under Quebec’s variable-rate property tax regime, a triplex stays in the residual category, the one covering residential buildings of five units or fewer, rather than the six-units-and-over category that is often taxed higher. Also check the value entered on the assessment roll in force: that value, not the price you pay, is what the tax is calculated on. The roll and the tax account are consulted on the City of Laval website.

The school tax. A single provincial rate: $0.07899 per $100 of adjusted assessment for 2026-2027, with a basic exemption on the first $25,000. A separate bill, modest next to the municipal one, but it exists.

Transfer duties. Since the 2026 budget, Laval applies 3% to any amount above $500,000, a power Quebec law grants municipalities beyond that threshold. The Laval grid: 0.5% up to $62,900, 1% up to $315,000, 1.5% up to $500,000, then 3% on the excess.

A purely illustrative example, computed with those official rates alone: on a taxable base of $600,000, the duties come to $8,610.50, against roughly $5,460 at $490,000. The bill arrives in a single payment, a few months after signing. The welcome tax calculator and the article on property taxes cover the rest.

The rents you buy are the rents in place

The most expensive mistake is buying on the assumption that you will raise rents to market. You are not the one who decides.

Since January 1, 2026, the Tribunal administratif du logement applies a simplified rent-setting method to modification notices given from that date. The base is the three-year average of Quebec’s consumer price index, 3.1% for leases renewed between April 2, 2026 and April 1, 2027. Added to it: the share of tax and insurance increases above that base, and major work, recovered at 5% a year. The TAL publishes its calculation tool.

Two rules to know before the offer:

• The moratorium. Until June 6, 2027, no tenant may be evicted for subdivision, substantial enlargement or a change of use.
• Repossession. It covers you, your parents, your children or a relative you support, with notice at least 6 months before the end of a 12-month lease. A tenant aged 65 or over, in place for 10 years and whose income does not exceed 125% of the low-rental housing eligibility threshold, is protected, with exceptions. In undivided co-ownership with a third party, repossession is in principle impossible.

If you plan to live in one of the three units, verify that a unit is coming free or that repossession is available. That is a verification, not an assumption.

The documents to demand before signing anything

• Every signed lease, with the rent increase notices from the past three years
• The rent roll: who pays, when, and who is behind
• The municipal and school tax accounts for the current year
• The energy bills, specifying who pays the heat in each unit
• The seller’s declarations on the immovable, the OACIQ form
• An up-to-date certificate of location
• Invoices for major work: roof, windows, plumbing, electrical, drain
• Any open files at the TAL

A seller who can produce neither leases nor tax accounts is not selling an income property, he is selling an intention. Read the leases yourself rather than the summary: the rent, the term, the heating clause and any parking or storage included all change the real number.

What gets verified specifically in Laval

The unit count on the listing sheet is not a guarantee. Confirm with the City that the zoning for the sector allows three units at that address, and that the lot subdivision is compliant.

The sensitive spot is the finished basement. A unit created without a permit is not merely “non-conforming”: according to the Government of Quebec, no acquired right flows from a construction or a use carried out illegally, and past tolerance by the municipality changes nothing. A use that became non-conforming after a by-law change, by contrast, can be protected by acquired rights. Between the two, there is sometimes a third of your revenue.

Ask for the original permit. If it does not exist, you are buying a duplex. The Laval investment profile and my Laval page set out the rest of the context.

Inspecting three units is not inspecting a house

Three kitchens, three bathrooms, multiple electrical entrances, common areas, a larger roof: the inspection takes longer and costs more than on a single-family home. Plan for access to all three units, which requires notice to the tenants. See the pre-purchase inspection guide.

The risks that remain, even with a sound file

• Vacancy. In its 2025 Rental Market Report, CMHC measured a 2.9% vacancy rate in the Montreal region. A regional average, not a forecast for your triplex.
• A tenant who stops paying. A TAL case takes time, and the mortgage payment goes out anyway.
• Major work. It arrives in blocks and is recovered in the rent at only 5% a year.
• Taxes. A new assessment roll or a municipal budget can push the bill up, as the 2026 change in Laval showed.

The rental management guide covers the day to day, and building a portfolio is another conversation.

Looking at a triplex in Laval? Write to me: we read the leases, the taxes and the zoning before drafting the offer, not after.

Georges Matar

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

Contact Georges