Investment

Investing in Laval: What to Verify Before You Commit

By Georges Matar · May 1, 2026 · 6 min read

Laval gets discussed as a market. What you buy, though, is a building, not a city. No municipal statistic guarantees anything about one specific address, and the address is what you are financing.

This article does not tell you what Laval pays. It tells you what gets verified before you commit, and where this city’s particular unpleasant surprises are hiding. General information only: confirm your file with a lender, a notary and the City.

What the official numbers say, and what they do not

In the 2021 census, Statistics Canada counted 438,366 residents in Laval, up 3.6% from 2016, and 169,785 occupied private dwellings, up 5.9%. The Government of Quebec’s socioeconomic portrait puts the population of the Laval administrative region at 461,509 in 2025, or 5.09% of Quebec and 7th of the 17 administrative regions, across 246 square kilometres.

On the municipal side, the filing of the 2025-2026-2027 triennial assessment roll counted 188,718 dwellings on the territory, up 4.2% from the previous roll, for a total assessed wealth of $108 billion.

These figures describe a measured past. None of them predicts how a building will behave, and population growth does not convert mechanically into rental income. If this is your first building, start with the income property guide.

The zoning by-law changed: what the seller shows you may be obsolete

This is the most specifically Laval verification there is. Since November 2022, the Code de l’urbanisme, by-law CDU-1, replaces the old L-2000 zoning by-law, the L-9500 subdivision by-law, the L-9501 construction by-law and seven other municipal by-laws. The territory is no longer divided into classic zones but by types of milieux.

The practical consequence: a zoning grid, a letter or an extract of a by-law dated before November 2022 no longer proves anything about what is allowed today. The City publishes a sheet for each address in its Info-règlements portal. Check there how many units are permitted at the exact address, and check separately that the lot subdivision is compliant.

A non-conforming unit does not fix itself over time

This is where whole revenue streams disappear. According to the Government of Quebec, no acquired right flows from a construction or a use carried out illegally. Past tolerance by the municipality, the years that have gone by and the presence of a tenant change none of that.

The distinction is sharp. A use that became non-conforming after a by-law change can be protected by acquired rights. A unit created without a permit never enters that category. So demand the original permit for each unit, not just for the building.

Since March 25, 2024, Bill 31 allows a municipality to permit an accessory dwelling unit on an already built residential lot without amending its land use plan, with the automatic entitlement applying since August 21, 2024. That is a power given to the municipality, not a right you hold in advance: the answer is read on the sheet for your address, not in the statute.

Rents are controlled, and the control changed in 2026

You are not buying market rents. You are buying the rents in place.

Since January 1, 2026, the Tribunal administratif du logement has replaced its 13-criteria grid with a simplified method built on four variables, the main one being the three-year average of Quebec’s consumer price index. That average gives 3.1% for leases renewed between April 2, 2026 and April 1, 2027. The new method applies to modification notices given from January 1, 2026; the old one continues to apply to notices given before.

Two rules bear directly on the price you should be willing to pay:

The notice to a new tenant, section G of the lease. Since February 21, 2024, the landlord must tell a new tenant the lowest rent paid in the 12 months before the lease began. If the rent asked is higher, the tenant may apply to the TAL to have it fixed within 10 days of concluding the lease, or within 2 months of the start of the lease if no notice was given, or within 2 months of discovering a false statement, with punitive damages available. A rent freshly raised after a change of tenant is therefore not necessarily final.
The moratorium. Until June 6, 2027, no tenant may be evicted for subdivision, substantial enlargement or a change of use.

The down payment depends on unit count and on whether you live there

Building	You live there	Minimum down payment	Price cap
1 or 2 units	yes	5% on the first $500,000, 10% on the rest	under $1,500,000
3 or 4 units	yes	10%	under $1,500,000
2 to 4 units	no	20%	under $1,000,000
5 units and up	not applicable	outside the homeowner products	not applicable

The first three rows come from the CMHC Purchase and CMHC Income Property products: loan-to-value up to 95% for 1 or 2 units, 90% for 3 or 4, and 80% for a non-owner-occupied income property. In every case, a credit score of at least 600 for one borrower, a maximum 25-year amortization (30 years for a first-time buyer or a new build, if you live in the building), ratios of 39% of gross income for housing costs and 44% for total debt, and a qualifying rate equal to the greater of your contract rate plus 2% or 5.25%.

At the fifth unit you change worlds: this is no longer homeowner residential financing. Test your scenario with the mortgage calculator and the affordability calculator before you visit.

The Laval costs that never appear on the listing sheet

In the 2026 budget the residential property tax rate was frozen, yet the account still rose by roughly 4.3% for a single-family home and 5.6% for a condominium, mostly because of water pricing, which went from $337 to $486 per dwelling. Per dwelling: a fourplex pays it four times. Add the school tax, at the single provincial rate of $0.07899 per $100 of adjusted standardised assessment for 2026-2027.

On purchase, Laval applies 3% transfer duties to any amount above $500,000, and the taxable base is the greatest of the consideration furnished, the consideration stipulated and the market value. The detail is in buying in Laval, property taxes and the welcome tax calculator.

The documents to obtain before you file the offer

The Info-règlements sheet for the address, not an old zoning grid
The original permit for each unit, basement included
A certificate of location issued after the most recent work
The leases, with the section G notice to the new tenant for every unit re-rented since February 2024
The rent increase notices from the past three years and any open files at the TAL
The municipal and school tax accounts for the current year
The seller’s declarations, the OACIQ form

Anything that cannot be obtained before the offer becomes a written condition in the offer, with a deadline and a right to withdraw. Buying a triplex in Laval works through the financing mechanics, and rental management covers what comes after.

What this article does not do

It gives you no capitalisation rate, no annual return and no projected appreciation. Those numbers depend on the building, the financing and the buyer, and nobody can honestly promise them at the scale of a city. Building a portfolio is another conversation, and my Laval page sets out the rest.

Looking at a building in Laval? Write to me: we read the zoning sheet, the permits and the leases before talking about price.