Tiny House in Quebec: Zoning, Financing, Insurance

The word tiny house names no recognized type of property in Quebec. It covers two objects the law treats in opposite ways: a building set on a permanent foundation, and a dwelling unit on wheels. Everything else, the permit, the loan, the insurance and the resale, follows from that distinction. Here is how to verify it, and where it blocks.

On a foundation or on wheels: two different legal objects

Article 900 of the Code civil du Québec is the way in. Immovables are land, the constructions and works of a permanent nature located on it and anything forming an integral part of it. Article 903 adds the nuance that counts for a tiny house: movables that are permanently physically attached to an immovable, without losing their individuality, are immovables for as long as they remain there and ensure the utility of the immovable.

The consequence is read at article 2970. Publication of rights concerning an immovable is made in the Registre foncier, the land register. Publication of rights concerning a movable is made in the register of personal and movable real rights, the RDPRM, kept in a separate office under article 2969. And article 2663 requires a hypothec to be published for the rights it confers to be set up against third persons.

A tiny house that has stayed on its wheels therefore has no entry in the Registre foncier. No immovable hypothec can be charged against it. It can be sold, but the trace of the transaction is not the trace of an immovable. That is the starting point of everything that follows.

Tiny house zoning in Quebec: use comes before floor area

No provincial statute sets a minimum dwelling area. The power belongs to the municipality, and the Loi sur l’aménagement et l’urbanisme, Quebec’s planning act, says exactly how far it goes. Article 113 allows council to adopt a zoning by-law which, at paragraph 3, specifies for each zone the constructions or uses that are authorized and those that are prohibited. Paragraph 5 lets it specify, for each zone or part of a zone, densities of occupation, the dimensions and volume of constructions, the floor area and the building footprint. Paragraph 5.1 adds architecture and exterior appearance.

The first question is therefore never “what is the minimum floor area.” It is “what use is authorized on this lot.” Ville de Québec illustrates it well. Its harmonized planning by-law R.V.Q. 1400 places four groups of uses in the Housing class, including group H4, unimodular home and mobile home. Article 17 defines it: the residential use carried on in a single dwelling building designed to be transportable on roads, factory built, rectangular in shape, one of whose sides is less than six metres and which can be connected to public services. And the same article states that a building constructed on site, rectangular in shape, is considered a unimodular home when one of its sides measures less than six metres.

In other words, the width of the box is enough to tip the project into a separate group of uses, permitted only where the specification grid allows it. The lot checks stay the same as for any piece of land: they are set out in the checks to make before buying vacant land.

Footprint and facade width: the figures from Québec City

The same by-law shows where many projects die, at the permit counter. Article 327: a main building must have a ground projection of at least 50 square metres, excluding an attached accessory construction. Article 328: the main facade must have a minimum width of six metres at ground floor level.

Those figures apply in Québec City and nowhere else. Do not transpose them to Laval or to Montreal. Laval gives the subject a distinct milieu type in its Code de l’urbanisme, called ZM Maisons mobiles: the use is therefore confined to specific zones, not permitted everywhere. The city’s Info-Règlements tool gives the regulations that apply by address, and that is where the verification starts, just as it does for reading zoning and the assessment roll.

The Construction Code does not cover what you think it covers

Plenty of tiny house vendors promise a building that is “Code compliant.” Technical sheet FT-1.1.1.1. from Garantie de construction résidentielle, whose regulatory part was approved by the Régie du bâtiment du Québec, recalls what article 1.04 of chapter I of the Construction Code exempts: a building used as a dwelling that is at most 2 storeys in building height, or that contains at most 8 dwelling units. Either condition is enough.

A single family tiny house therefore falls outside chapter I. As the sheet writes, the municipality then has jurisdiction and applies its own construction by-law, which usually refers back to the 2015 Code or to an earlier version. “Code compliant” means nothing until you have asked the city which version it applies.

Financing a tiny house: immovable and movable are not borrowed the same way

This is where the distinction from the first section costs money. CMHC is explicit in its Prefab Plus program: prefabricated homes permanently affixed to the land and set on a permanent foundation are eligible under the usual underwriting criteria, and secured by a traditional mortgage loan. Movable prefabricated homes that are not permanently affixed to the land fall under CMHC chattel financing and are secured by a chattel mortgage.

Two regimes, two products. CMHC also confirms that it insures loans on various property types, including manufactured or mobile homes, and requires the property to be habitable and available year round, with road access passable in every season. For an owner occupant loan, the maximum purchase value sits below $1,500,000 and the maximum amortization is 25 years.

What I cannot give you, for lack of a public source: the rate, the down payment and the amortization a lender will grant on chattel financing. Work out the payment in both scenarios with the mortgage calculator, then have eligibility confirmed by a mortgage broker. How loan insurance works is explained in the 20% down payment myth.

A leased lot: the lease is in charge, not the title

Placing a tiny house in a project or a park where the land is leased changes the whole file. Article 1892 of the Code civil treats as a lease of a dwelling the lease of a mobile home placed on a chassis, whether or not it has a permanent foundation, and the lease of land intended to receive a mobile home. The Tribunal administratif du logement (Quebec’s rental board) therefore has jurisdiction, and its lease form has been mandatory since September 1, 1996. For land, it is the Bail d’un terrain destiné à l’installation d’une maison mobile form.

Three rules are worth knowing before you sign.

Maintaining the land is part of the lease. Article 1996 requires the lessor to deliver the land and to maintain it in accordance with the development standards established by law, and states that these obligations form part of the lease.

Your right to sell is protected. Article 1998 prohibits the lessor from limiting the lessee’s right to alienate or lease the mobile home, and from imposing itself as agent for that sale. The lessee who sells must, however, notify the lessor of the land immediately.

The buyer inherits the lease. Under article 2000, the acquirer of a mobile home situated on leased land becomes the lessee of the land, unless the acquirer notifies the lessor of the intention to leave the premises within a month of the acquisition.

On a lot you own outright, none of that applies: you are in the Registre foncier and in the zoning by-law. On leased land, you hold a building and a lease, and it is the lease that fixes your long term monthly cost.

Insurance and resale: what no source puts a number on

I found no Bureau d’assurance du Canada publication setting a rule specific to tiny houses. The policy follows the nature of the insured property, and the insurer decides case by case. What the BAC does publish is the existence of a service offered with its members to help consumers who cannot obtain home insurance. That centre does not step in where the refusal follows a false declaration, fraud or a criminal record connected to the insurance sought. The classic causes of a refusal are set out in what makes a home hard to insure.

For resale, be warned: no public data lets anyone size the market. The APCIQ residential barometer breaks sales and median prices into three categories, single family, condominium and plex. The tiny house is none of them. There is therefore no published median price and no published time on market for this product, and a lender asking for an appraisal will have it rest on comparables that, in most sectors, do not exist.

Frequently asked questions

Can a tiny house on wheels carry a mortgage? Not an immovable hypothec. It is not published in the Registre foncier, since article 2970 reserves that register for rights concerning an immovable. CMHC handles this case through its chattel financing, secured by a chattel mortgage.

My city says nothing about tiny houses. Does that mean they are allowed? No. A zoning by-law works by authorized and prohibited uses, under paragraph 3 of article 113 of the Loi sur l’aménagement et l’urbanisme. What is not authorized in the zone is prohibited. Ask for the lot’s zoning grid in writing.

The vendor says the tiny house is Code compliant. What is that worth? Not much until the city confirms it. A building of at most 2 storeys or at most 8 dwelling units is exempt from chapter I of the Construction Code, and the municipal by-law takes over, often by referring to an earlier version of the Code.

Can I put one at the back of my parents’ lot? That depends on the use authorized in the zone and on the siting standards, not on the size of the lot. This kind of project is closer to an accessory dwelling unit than to a mobile home, and both get verified with the planning department before any promise to purchase.

To go further, read what to check before buying in Laval and the framework for an accessory dwelling unit in Quebec.

A tiny house project on a specific lot? Write to me. I make the use and standards checks with the municipality before you file a promise to purchase.

Georges Matar

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

Contact Georges