Buyer's Guide

Your Promise to Purchase Was Refused

By Georges Matar · June 11, 2026 · 6 min read

Losing a multiple-offer situation in Quebec goes by three different names: your promise to purchase was refused, it expired without an answer, or the seller countered someone else. The precise word matters, because each of the three has specific consequences for your money and for your next offer.

This is not a consolation piece. It is a method.

What just happened, legally

Clause 14.1 of the Promise to purchase form settles all three cases. If the seller does not accept it within the irrevocability period, it becomes null and void. A refusal produces the same effect. And any counter-proposal by the seller, even one addressed to you, has the same effect as a refusal: your original promise is dead, only the new document counts.

Your deposit follows. Under clause 4.3, as soon as the promise becomes null and void, the trustee must immediately reimburse the deposit to the depositor, without interest, upon written request. Send that request the same day, and keep the receipt the trustee gave you when the funds were deposited.

If the property still interests you, nothing prevents you from submitting a new promise to purchase. The OACIQ is clear: an expired promise cannot be revived, your broker must draft a new one. And if the seller wants to reopen the discussion from his side, he has to go through a counter-proposal, which can be made even after the acceptance period has expired.

One thing you will not get today is the winning price. Section 96 of the Regulation respecting brokerage requirements forbids a broker from disclosing the content of a promise to purchase. That price becomes public when the sale is published in the Land Register, and the OACIQ specifies that a broker cannot disclose a comparable’s selling price before that publication. Ask your broker to send it to you then. It is data, not a wound.

What the loss tells you, and what it does not

It tells you about one seller’s decision. It tells you nothing about market value.

A seller has the right to refuse a promise to purchase even when the price and conditions match his expectations. He is never obliged to take the highest offer. The closing date, the deposit, the conditions you kept and the deadlines all weigh on his choice, and you will never know which of them made the difference.

The conclusion not to draw: I should have gone higher. You have no way to verify that, and it is exactly the reasoning that makes people overpay for the next property. For how a Quebec bidding war actually works, read how a multiple-offer situation is governed.

The four-question post-mortem

Did my ceiling come from an analysis or from wanting it? Section 76 of the regulation forbids a broker from expressing an opinion on the value of an immovable unless it is based on and supported by generally accepted practice, and section 5 requires him to be able to demonstrate its accuracy. If nobody can show you the sales retained and the adjustments applied, you did not have a ceiling. You had a number.

Was my calendar realistic? The OACIQ recommends allowing at least 14 days for the financing condition, and reminds licensees that these periods run in consecutive calendar days: Saturdays, Sundays and statutory holidays count, the day of acceptance does not count, the deadline day does. A shorter deadline is not a stronger offer. It is a more fragile one.

What had I given up? Write it down coldly: the inspection condition, the document review under clause 9, the legal warranty of quality modified in clause 12.1. A concession that did not win is a concession to take back, not to double.

Was I under calendar pressure? In the brief it filed with the Ministère des Finances on September 8, 2021, the OACIQ writes that deliberately concentrating showings so as to create a feeling of urgency may potentially constitute an ethical breach. If the pressure came from there, it says nothing about what the property is worth.

Rebuild the ceiling from the financing

The next ceiling is not set from the memory of the one you just lost. It is rebuilt from written rules.

CMHC calculates lending value as the lowest of the property’s market value, its purchase price or its construction cost. The minimum down payment is 5% of the first $500,000 of that value and 10% of the remainder. The purchase price or lending value must stay below $1,500,000. Maximum ratios are 39% gross debt service and 44% total debt service, calculated at the greater of the contract rate plus 2% or 5.25%.

Those numbers are not decorative. According to Statistics Canada, household credit market debt as a proportion of household disposable income stood at 176.4% in the second quarter of 2026, and the debt service ratio at 14.52% (The Daily, September 11, 2026).

Then check clause 6.1 of your next promise. The OACIQ insists that a real maximum interest rate be written there: brokers must not enter “current rate”, draw a line, or leave it blank, precisely so the buyer is never bound to borrow at a rate he cannot carry. The clause must also state the loan amount, the maximum amortization and the minimum term you need.

And remember what clause 6.2 demands, as the OACIQ reads it: a real, unconditional lender’s undertaking. A mortgage pre-approval is not one. To prepare that file, read the first-time buyer’s mortgage guide.

The property can come back

That is not comfort, it is a calendar fact. An accepted promise stays conditional: clause 6.3 allows cancellation for lack of a loan undertaking, and clause 8.1 renders it null if the buyer sends the seller, within the deadline, a notice with the inspection report revealing a factor likely to significantly reduce the value of the immovable. Clause 9.1 opens the same door when the buyer is not satisfied with the documents he reserved the right to review, or did not receive them in time.

So ask your broker to keep following the listing instead of closing the file. If the property comes back, redo the analysis with current data. Do not resubmit your old number out of reflex.

The levers that are not price

For the next offer, work first on what costs you no capital: a closing date that genuinely suits the seller, a more substantial deposit, short deadlines on the conditions you keep, and documents reviewed before you submit, which lets you lighten clause 9.

If you do have to go up, your broker fills out the mandatory Enhancements prior to acceptance form. And keep in mind the line from the OACIQ professional practices guide: not enhancing the promise to purchase must always be one of the options presented to the buyer.

What you do not repeat

No hand-written escalation clause. No dropping the financing condition, which does not make your lender more generous and leaves you alone with the risk. No buying without the legal warranty of quality without having the situation examined first. And no waiving the inspection: section 81 requires your broker to recommend it, and the form has you initial that you were informed of the risks. Before you sign anything, revisit the first-visit checklist and what an inspection costs.

A refused promise costs you time. An accepted promise at the wrong price costs you years.

Starting a search again after a refusal? Write me and we rebuild the ceiling with current comparables before your next showing.