Buyer's Guide

Negotiating a Property in Montreal

By Georges Matar · July 2, 2026 · 8 min read

In the popular imagination, negotiating means holding out longer than the other side. In Quebec, it starts with filling out a mandatory form correctly. The OACIQ Promise to Purchase has sixteen sections, and almost every one of them contains a lever that is easy to leave on the table when you only look at one box: clause 4.1, the price.

What follows is the general framework. The special case of multiple promises to purchase is covered separately, in Bidding Wars in Montreal.

An accepted promise is no longer an offer, it is a contract

Article 1396 of the Civil Code of Québec sets the rule: where the beneficiary of the promise accepts it, “both he and the promisor are bound to enter into the contract”. Clause 14.1 of the form says the same thing in transaction language: if the seller accepts within the deadline, the promise will constitute a contract legally binding the buyer and the seller until it is fully carried out.

What a withdrawal costs is written in clause 7.6. If no deed of sale is signed through the buyer’s fault, the buyer could owe damages to the seller, and could also have to compensate the seller’s broker directly, up to the remuneration the seller would have had to pay that broker. The OACIQ specifies that between the buyer’s signature and the seller’s receipt, the Civil Code leaves a short window to withdraw. Once the promise has been received, the buyer is bound by the content of the offer, subject to the conditions it provides for.

Your room to manoeuvre is therefore decided before you sign, not after.

The acceptance deadline is a lever, not a formality

Clause 14.1 requires a time and a date: the buyer is irrevocably bound until that exact moment. If the deadline passes without acceptance, the promise becomes null and void. A refusal has the same effect, and any counter-proposal from the seller has the same effect as a refusal.

A short deadline adds pressure, but it takes away the seller’s time to consult family, a notary or an accountant. A long deadline leaves the door open to other promises. That is why the OACIQ asks the buyer’s broker to check that the deadline meets the client’s needs.

One rule is often overlooked: every new counter-proposal cancels the previous ones. The last document must therefore restate every condition you want, in addition to those of the original promise, because it is the one that will form the commitment between the parties.

Conditions protect you, and they cost you bargaining power

The inspection, in section 8, carries a warning in capital letters: a promise without an inspection clause is appropriate only in particular circumstances, for example when you plan to replace the building or carry out major renovations. Clause 8.1 gives you a number of days to inspect, then until the fourth day after that period expires, before 8 p.m., to notify the seller in writing and give them a copy of the report. Without that notice, you are deemed to have waived the condition.

Financing, in section 6, commits you to take steps in good faith, as quickly as possible and at your own expense, to obtain the loan described in clause 6.1. You then give the seller, within the deadline in clause 6.2, a copy of a lender’s commitment. Failing that, clause 6.3 allows the seller to require a new application with a lender the seller designates, or to declare the promise null.

The sale of another property goes through Annex R. Clause R2.1 makes the promise conditional on the sale of your property. In return, the seller often adds clause R2.2, known as the 72-hour clause, which allows the seller to keep offering the property for sale. If the seller accepts a second promise whose conditions have all been met, the seller sends you a written notice: you have 72 hours to waive your condition or cancel your promise. A revised version of Annex R has been in force since August 24, 2026.

Removing a condition does not improve your file. It shifts a risk from the seller to you. It is a deliberate choice, not a trick.

Never give your maximum to the seller’s broker

The notice from the seller’s broker to the unrepresented buyer (Avis du courtier du vendeur à l’acheteur non représenté) leaves no ambiguity: the broker bound to the seller by a brokerage contract does not represent and does not defend the buyer’s interests, but protects and promotes the seller’s interests. That broker owes you fair treatment, meaning objective information about the transaction and about the rights and obligations of all parties.

The OACIQ sums up the difference in its brochure on the subject: fair treatment is objective information; representation is strategic information, an advisory role and the ability to negotiate in your interest. A collaborating broker without a purchase brokerage contract works de facto for the seller.

Your maximum budget, your timeline and your attachment to the property are strategic information. They belong in the conversation with a broker who represents you.

Asking price, market value, lender’s appraisal

Three numbers, three functions. The asking price is a marketing decision. Market value is an analysis: section 76 of the Regulation respecting brokerage requirements, professional conduct of brokers and advertising only allows a broker to give an opinion on value if it is well founded and justified in keeping with accepted practice and professional standards.

The lender’s appraisal serves another purpose. CMHC defines lending value as the lowest of the following amounts: the property’s market value, its purchase price or its construction cost. If the agreed price is above the value retained, the gap is made up in cash, on top of the down payment. That is also why a pre-approval does not replace the commitment required in clause 6.2: see the mortgage pre-approval mistakes.

Everything that can be negotiated that is not the price

The occupancy date, in clause 11.2, with the seller’s obligation to leave the premises free of any property not included. Inclusions and exclusions, in clauses 11.5 and 11.6: whatever forms an integral part of the building, like the dining room light fixture, is already included under the Civil Code, but everything else must be named, with its colour, brand and serial number, the OACIQ points out. Equipment that is rented or bought on credit, in clause 11.7: water heater, alarm system, heat pump. The deposit, in clause 4.3, which is optional and which, once paid, goes into trust with the broker, not into the seller’s pocket. The deadlines for each condition, which are more flexible than whether the condition exists at all. Work to be done before the sale, to be written into clause 12.1.

Clause 14.1 explains why all of this must be in writing: the parties declare that their consent does not result from any representation or condition that is not written in the promise.

The seller’s declarations change the conversation

The Seller’s Declarations on the Immovable form (Déclarations du vendeur sur l’immeuble) has been mandatory since July 2012 for the sale, by a natural person, of a mainly residential building with fewer than five dwellings. The broker fills it out with the seller when the brokerage contract is signed, and if the seller refuses to fill it out and sign it, the broker simply cannot enter into a brokerage contract with that seller.

Once it has been brought to your attention, this document is attached at clause 13.1 of your promise and forms an integral part of it. Here is the point the OACIQ states plainly: the price offered must take the seller’s declarations into account, because you will not be able to rely later on items mentioned in them to obtain a reduction. What is declared is negotiated now, or not at all.

Read your segment, not the headlines

According to the QPAREB (APCIQ), the Montreal CMA recorded 2,853 residential sales in August 2026, down 13% year over year, with 20,128 active listings, up 18% (press release of September 4, 2026).

The detail matters more than the total. That same month, the average selling time was 42 days for single-family homes, 52 days for plexes and 62 days for condos, the latter up 12 days in a year. On the island of Montreal, condos sold in an average of 72 days, at a median price of $475,000, stable year over year, according to APCIQ monthly statistics. The APCIQ describes a single-family market still in sellers’ favour in most sectors. Island of Montreal condos, for their part, sit broadly at the boundary between a balanced market and a buyers' market.

Three indicators are enough before you write down a number: active listings in your segment, the average selling time and the change in the median price. Always with the date of the data. For context, see the Montreal market analysis.

What holds up when it is time to decide

A low offer is neither forbidden nor something you have to justify to the broker on the other side. The OACIQ points out that the seller’s broker must present every written promise received, as soon as possible, even if the price offered is very low, and that the buyer’s broker cannot refuse to draft it for that reason either.

What holds up is the comparable property analysis your broker must present to help you set the price to offer: the sales selected, the adjustments applied, the date of the data. And an inspection prepared in advance: here is what it costs and when to do it.

Preparing an offer in Greater Montreal or Laval? Write to me: we fill in every box on the form with a reason behind it, not a hunch.