Real Estate 101
Passive House in Quebec: The Cost and the Exact Standard
A listing that says “passive house” proves nothing in Quebec. Three very different things circulate …
You have visited the condo twice. You like the courtyard, the light, the parking spot. Nobody has said a word about your dog. The rule that decides whether he can move in already exists, and it will apply to you the moment you sign at the notary. Here is where it lives, and which document to demand before the offer.
Where the rule lives: acte constitutif, règlement de l’immeuble or a resolution
Article 1052 of the Code civil du Québec is short, and it decides everything else: the déclaration de copropriété (the declaration of co-ownership) comprises the acte constitutif de copropriété (the constituting act of co-ownership), the règlement de l’immeuble (the building by-laws) and the description of the fractions.
The acte constitutif defines the destination of the immovable and sets out any other agreement relating to it, including any penal clause that applies when the declaration is contravened (article 1053).
The règlement de l’immeuble contains the rules on the enjoyment, use and upkeep of the private and common portions (article 1054). A pet ban is a rule of enjoyment and use: in most Quebec buildings, that is exactly where it sits.
The distinction is not a notary’s subtlety. It changes the majority required to amend the clause, and the register where the change is published.
| Where the clause sits | Majority to change it | Publication |
|---|---|---|
| Règlement de l’immeuble | Majority of the votes of the co-owners present or represented (art. 1096) | Register kept by the syndicat (art. 1060, 1070) |
| Acte constitutif | Three quarters of the votes of the co-owners present or represented (art. 1097) | Registre foncier (art. 1060) |
| Destination of the immovable | Three quarters of the co-owners representing 90% of the votes (art. 1098) | Registre foncier |
A fourth case remains, the most fragile of all: a resolution of the board of directors, which a court may annul within 90 days if it is partial or was passed with intent to injure the co-owners or in contempt of their rights (article 1086.2). A notice taped up in the elevator is not a règlement de l’immeuble.
Why a pet ban binds you even though you never read it
Article 1062 leaves no room: the déclaration de copropriété binds the co-owners, their successors and the persons who signed it, from its registration. You are the seller’s successor. You signed nothing, and the clause still aims at you. Article 1063 closes the other door: each co-owner has the free use and enjoyment of his private portion, provided he observes the règlement de l’immeuble and does not impair the rights of the other co-owners or the destination of the immovable.
There is a reading trap here. The déclaration is registered in the registre foncier (Quebec’s land register), but amendments to the règlement de l’immeuble are only deposited in the register kept by the syndicat, the co-owners' association (articles 1060 and 1070). The notarial copy from 2009 that the seller hands you can therefore be accurate and out of date at the same time. As in what a co-owner may actually renovate, the text that governs is not the one you are given.
Pets banned in a condo: total ban, weight limit or prior approval
Three families of clauses circulate in Quebec, and they are not handled the same way.
The total ban. No dog, no cat, sometimes an exception for a fish or a caged bird. It is the easiest one for the syndicat to enforce: it calls for no assessment at all.
The limit on weight, size or number. It looks flexible and it generates the most disputes: nobody agrees on when the weight gets measured, and a 6 kg puppy becomes a 25 kg dog. Ask in writing how the syndicat has applied it over the past three years.
Prior approval, case by case. The board approves each animal. This clause protects you better than a ban, on one condition: obtain the written authorization before the end of the document examination period. A verbal nod from the caretaker is worth nothing.
What frames all three is article 1056: the déclaration cannot impose any restriction on the rights of the co-owners except those justified by the destination of the immovable, its characteristics or its location. A restriction attached to none of those is open to argument. “Open to argument” is the right phrase: a court decides, on the evidence, file by file. Never assume a clause will not apply to you, and have it read by a lawyer or by your notary before the offer. The buyer’s guide places that step in the order of verifications.
The animal d’assistance: the Charte comes before the règlement de l’immeuble
Here the legal register changes. Article 10 of the Charte des droits et libertés de la personne (Quebec’s charter of human rights) prohibits discrimination based on a handicap or on the use of any means to palliate that handicap. Article 13 adds that no one may, in a juridical act, stipulate a clause involving discrimination: such a clause is without effect.
The Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse sums it up this way: a guide dog and a service dog trained by a specialized organization are recognized by Quebec courts as a means of palliating a handicap, and the duty of reasonable accommodation applies unless it imposes undue hardship. No official government certification exists in Quebec: it is the training organization’s documentation that serves as proof. For an animal that has not been trained, recognition remains possible, provided the real needs and benefits are demonstrated.
The clearest precedent comes from the rental side. In 2020, in CDPDJ (D.R. et autres) c. Ducharme, a landlord who had refused a lease because of a child’s service dog was ordered to pay more than $13,940 to the three victims.
The tenant of a condo where pets are banned
If you are buying to rent it out, two regimes overlap, and they are not judged in the same place.
On the co-ownership side. Article 1057 is precise: the règlement de l’immeuble may be set up against a lessee or an occupant as soon as a copy of it is given to him by the co-owner or, failing that, by the syndicat. No copy given, no enforceability. Article 1065 requires a co-owner who leases his fraction to notify the syndicat within 15 days, giving the lessee’s name, the term of the lease and the date on which he gave the lessee a copy of the by-laws. That date is what goes missing in the files that fall apart. Article 1079 then allows the syndicat, after notifying the lessor and the lessee, to apply for the resolution of the lease where the non-performance of an obligation by the lessee causes serious injury to a co-owner or to another occupant.
On the lease side. The Tribunal administratif du logement (Quebec’s rental board) applies its own grid. The summaries of decisions it publishes are blunt: a lease clause prohibiting animals is legal, and it is inappropriate to distinguish according to the type of animal or its temperament, small dog or large breed. In Placement NR inc. c. Chartrand-Boyer (24 May 2024), the benefit the tenants invoked had to meet a higher standard than the benefits of an animal’s mere companionship. The reverse exists too: in Leclerc c. Cantin Lévesque immobilier inc. (4 July 2024), the clause was held unenforceable against tenants whose dog played an attested therapeutic role and whom the landlord had tolerated for 7 years. Article 1901 provides that a clause imposing an obligation on the lessee that is excessive and unreasonable in the circumstances is abusive.
When the rule changes and your dog is already there
Amending the règlement de l’immeuble is done by a majority of the votes of the co-owners present or represented (article 1096). A thinly attended meeting on a Tuesday evening in November can therefore ban animals in a building that accepted them.
The amendment must be express, in minutes or a written resolution, then deposited in the register kept by the syndicat (article 1060): a discussion without a recorded vote changes nothing. Any co-owner may then apply to the court to annul a decision that is partial or was made in contempt of his rights, within 90 days, on pain of forfeiture (article 1103).
The Code creates no automatic acquired right for the animal already living there. Many meetings vote a transition clause that protects the animals already in place. If yours did not, the question becomes a lawyer’s file, not a hallway conversation.
Before the offer: the documents to demand
A buyer with an animal obtains five items.
- The complete déclaration de copropriété, acte constitutif, règlement de l’immeuble and description of the fractions, along with the published amending deeds.
- The règlement de l’immeuble in force, as it appears in the register kept by the syndicat (article 1070), and not the version annexed to the seller’s deed of purchase.
- The minutes of the general meetings and of the board for the past two or three years. A ban in preparation shows up there before it exists.
- The syndicat’s attestation on the state of the co-ownership, which the seller must give you in due time and which the syndicat provides to him within 15 days of his request (article 1068.1).
- The additional documents that article 1068.2 lets you demand from the syndicat, at your expense.
All of this gets examined during the period set by the condition on the examination of the co-ownership documents in the OACIQ form. Use it to cover the obligations described in Bill 16 and condo documents and to read the floor covering clause: claws and impact noise usually sit right beside the article on animals, as explained in what to check about noise in a condo.
If your animal is an animal d’assistance (a service animal), raise it in writing before the offer, with the organization’s documentation in support. Asked ahead of time, the question is handled as a request for accommodation. Asked after the move, as a contravention.
Frequently asked questions
The seller tells me everyone in the building has a dog. A tolerance in fact is not an amendment to the by-laws, and article 1062 keeps binding you. It may serve as an argument one day, before a court, with evidence. It does not replace a written authorization from the board.
The by-laws ban dogs but say nothing about cats. The text is read as it is written, and Éducaloi notes that in lease matters a tenant may in principle conclude that he has the right to keep a cat if the clause covers dogs only. In co-ownership, the syndicat can always invoke article 1063 if the animal impairs the rights of the others. Have the exact clause read before you adopt.
I rent out my condo. Am I answerable for my tenant’s dog? You must notify the syndicat within 15 days of the lessee’s name, the term of the lease and the date the by-laws were given (article 1065). Without that delivery, the by-laws cannot be set up against him (article 1057), and the syndicat may apply for the resolution of the lease if the non-performance causes serious injury (article 1079).
To go further, read what you are actually buying in a co-ownership and what a co-owner may renovate in a condo.
Looking for a condo that will take your dog or your cat? Write to me: I ask for the current by-laws and the minutes before the showing, not after the offer.
Georges Matar
Residential Real Estate Broker · RE/MAX DU CARTIER INC.
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