Land Value and Zoning in Quebec: How to Read the Roll

Your assessment notice does not show one amount, it shows three: the value of the property, the value of the land and the value of the building. That breakdown exists for every address and it is free to consult. Here is what the ratio lets you conclude, what it does not, and the exact point where zoning takes over.

The rôle d’évaluation already separates land value from building value

The rule comes from the statute, not from the city. Section 42 of the Loi sur la fiscalité municipale requires the rôle d’évaluation (the municipal assessment roll) to indicate the value of each assessment unit on the basis of its real value. Section 43 defines that real value as the exchange value on a free and open market, meaning the most probable price in a sale by agreement between two parties who are well informed and free to contract.

Montreal and Laval then describe the breakdown the same way. Laval even gives a worked example: property at $569,000, land at $250,000, building at $319,000.

Where to read it. In Montreal, the online roll service gives the owner’s name, the area of the land, then the value of the property, of the building and of the land, starting from the address, the lot number or the matricule number. In Laval, the assessment and taxes by address section gives the same information for any property on the territory.

What the land to building ratio does not tell you

The building value is a subtraction. Laval says so plainly: for the calculation of municipal taxes the distinction between the two is not important, it is the overall value of the property that is taken into account, and the building value is shown in order to meet a legal obligation. So your house was not appraised on its own and then added to the land. It is what is left once the land is taken out.

Second limit: the date. Section 46 requires the assessor to take into account the condition of the unit and the market conditions as they exist on 1 July of the second fiscal year preceding the first of those for which the roll is made. For the Laval 2025-2026-2027 roll, that reference date is 1 July 2023.

Third limit, and the most important one. The same section specifies that the use taken into account is the one that is, at that date, the most probable for the unit. The most probable, not the densest the grid allows, and not the most profitable a developer might imagine. A lot whose entered value exceeds that of the building therefore contains no promise of redevelopment.

Three situations tip the balance toward the land: a large lot in a sector where comparable vacant lots sell high, a small older building at the end of its useful life, and a lot whose dimensions clearly exceed the minimum in the subdivision by-law. Each time, that is a signal, not a conclusion.

If the gap between the roll and the market looks unreasonable to you, the home value estimator gives a current order of magnitude, and the procedure for acting on it is set out in how to contest a municipal assessment.

Zoning decides what is actually possible on a lot

Section 113 of the Loi sur l’aménagement et l’urbanisme allows the municipal council to classify constructions and uses, to divide the territory into zones, and to specify for each zone the constructions and uses that are authorized and prohibited. That document, not the assessment, decides what can be built.

In Montreal, each borough adopts its own planning by-laws, and for a written answer there is a request for an opinion of conformity with the planning by-laws. In Laval, the Code de l’urbanisme (the city’s consolidated planning code) groups the applicable rules, and the Info-règlements tool lets you search by keyword, by lot number or by address.

A dérogation mineure does not solve this problem. Section 145.1 is clear: a dérogation mineure (a minor exemption from a planning by-law) may bear only on zoning and subdivision provisions other than those relating to the use and the density of land occupation. A setback, a height, a lot width, yes. Adding a prohibited use or dwellings the zone does not allow, no. The Montreal process also announces a processing time of three to four months from a complete application.

Permitted use and droit acquis: the difference that costs money

A permitted use appears today in the grid for the zone. A non-conforming use protected by droits acquis (acquired rights, the Quebec version of grandfathering) is something else: it complied before the by-law changed, and it survives through a tolerance that is framed by rules.

That tolerance is fragile, because section 113 expressly allows the municipality to reduce it. The by-law may require that a non-conforming use protected by droits acquis cease where it has been abandoned, has ceased or has been interrupted for a period the by-law defines, a period that can never be shorter than six months. It may also prohibit a non-conforming use from being replaced by another non-conforming use, or prohibit its extension and modification.

In concrete terms: a third dwelling in a zone that has moved to two units can lose its protection after a few months of vacancy, depending on the local by-law. The same logic applies to a non-conforming lot, since section 115 allows the subdivision by-law to establish the conditions under which such a lot may be enlarged or modified. This gets verified in writing. The same reflex applies to non-conforming units in an income property.

Subdividing a lot: the real conditions

The opération cadastrale, that is the act of representing a property on a plan and identifying it by a lot number, is reserved to the arpenteur-géomètre (the Quebec land surveyor) by section 34 of the Loi sur les arpenteurs-géomètres. No other professional may carry it out.

Before that, there is the municipality. In Montreal, a subdivision permit is mandatory before any opération cadastrale, except in three cases. The substantive condition fits in one sentence: the opération cadastrale must allow the construction of a building that complies with the construction and planning by-laws. If the land is built on, a certificat de localisation (certificate of location) or a draft certificate is among the documents required.

The subdivision by-law, for its part, prescribes the minimum area and dimensions of lots, taking into account the nature of the soil and the presence or absence of septic installations, of a water main or of a sewer. It may also prohibit opérations cadastrales based on topography, proximity to wetlands and bodies of water, or flood and landslide hazards.

Two details get discovered late. The contribution for park purposes first: sections 117.1 and 117.2 allow the municipality to require, as a prior condition to the approval of a plan for an opération cadastrale, that the owner cede land free of charge or pay a sum, or both. Then, the subdivision changes the roll: section 174 of the Loi sur la fiscalité municipale requires the assessor to update it following a division, a subdivision or a redivision.

The certificat de localisation and servitudes

The certificat de localisation is a report accompanied by a plan, in which the arpenteur-géomètre expresses a professional opinion on the current situation and condition of the land: an updated description of the lot, servitudes such as a right of way, constraints such as an agricultural zone or a flood zone, encroachments, and compliance with the by-laws.

A servitude is not erased by a sale. Article 1177 of the Code civil defines it as a charge imposed on an immovable in favour of another, and article 1182 adds that transfers of ownership do not affect it: it follows the immovables into whatever hands they pass. A right of way at the back of a lot or a public utility right of way can therefore neutralize exactly the portion of land that made the subdivision interesting. The Loi sur l’aménagement et l’urbanisme also allows the municipality to require that the servitudes needed for the passage of energy transmission installations appear on the attached plan.

A certificate that is ten years old describes the situation as it stood ten years ago. For a subdivision project, that is a document to redo.

Land value and zoning in Quebec: what it changes at sale

The price is set on what a buyer can actually do, not on a potential that gets mentioned. Advertising a subdividable lot without written confirmation from the municipality exposes the seller and the broker, who must be able to demonstrate the accuracy of what is claimed.

What I ask of an owner whose lot clearly exceeds the norm in the sector: the extract of the roll with the three values, the up to date zoning grid, a recent certificat de localisation, and the index aux immeubles (the land register index for the lot). Four documents. They turn an intuition into an argument, or they extinguish it before the listing. The known constraints on the land then show up in the seller’s declaration.

Frequently asked questions

My land is assessed higher than my house. Should I demolish? The ratio does not answer that question. The building value on the roll is a subtraction, established at an earlier date, according to the most probable use at that moment. The decision depends on zoning, construction cost and financing.

By entering a high land value, has the city confirmed that I can subdivide? No. The property assessor and the planning department are two distinct functions. A high land value is neither an authorization nor an opinion.

My triplex is in a zone that now allows only two dwellings. Am I protected? Possibly, through droits acquis, but the protection is framed by the local by-law. An interruption of the use for at least the period provided, which cannot be shorter than six months, can end it. Get your situation confirmed in writing.

Does a subdivision raise my taxes? It changes the roll, and therefore the entered values. The assessor must update it after an opération cadastrale, and the notice of alteration reopens a period for contesting the altered entries.

To go further, read the checks to make before buying land and how to audit comparables.

Is your lot bigger than the others on your street and you want to know what that is worth? Write to me. I pull out the zoning grid and the extract of the roll with you before we talk price.

Georges Matar

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

Contact Georges