Real Estate 101

When a Quebec Deal Goes Wrong: Seven Cases

By Georges Matar · May 28, 2026 · 8 min read

A Quebec residential transaction almost never breaks for an original reason. It breaks in the same places, each covered by a written rule: an article of the Civil Code, a clause of the mandatory OACIQ form, a 15 day deadline. Almost always, the cause is a document requested too late.

1. A charge that surfaces at the notary

Article 1723 of the Civil Code is blunt: the seller must warrant the property free of all rights except those he declared, and must discharge the hypothecs charging it. Clause 10.3 of the promise to purchase repeats it. The notary is the one who checks, through the title search at the Land Register.

The legal hypothec of the syndicate of co-owners. Article 2724 limits legal hypothecs to four claims, including the syndicate’s claim for common expenses. Under article 2729, it charges the fraction of a co-owner in default for more than 30 days, from the registration of a notice covering the amount due that day plus the charges for the current year and the two that follow.

The legal hypothec of construction. Article 2726 reserves it for those who took part in work requested by the owner, from the architect to the subcontractor, with no publication needed. Under article 2727, it subsists for 30 days after the work is completed, is preserved by a notice registered within that period and served on the owner, and lapses six months after that end.

Unpaid municipal and school taxes. These are prior claims, article 2651, 5°, and article 2654.1 makes them a real right that follows the immovable into whosever hands it passes: they follow the property, not the seller.

And the closing date? Clause 10.5 governs it: an irregularity of title disclosed before signing gives the seller 21 days to notify in writing that he is remedying it at his expense or not, then 5 days for the buyer to buy anyway or void the promise. A charge found just before closing therefore moves the signing; the costs of radiation stay with the seller, clause 10.4.

2. The co-ownership file nobody asked for

Take a typical situation: a special assessment voted a few weeks before the listing, discovered at the notary by a buyer who asked for no documents, when it had appeared in a set of minutes long before his offer. Three articles answer this, and all are asked for early.

The syndicate’s certificate on the state of the co-ownership, article 1068.1: the seller gives it to the promisor buyer in due course, and the syndicate produces it within 15 days. Its content is set by the regulation in force since 14 August 2025.
Documents and information, article 1068.2: the promisor buyer may ask the syndicate for what lets him give informed consent, and the syndicate must provide it diligently, at the buyer’s expense.
The statement of common expenses due, article 1069: the acquirer owes all expenses due at the time of acquisition, with interest, unless he asked for the statement and the syndicate provided it within 15 days.

Add the Request for information to the syndicate of co-owners, a recommended OACIQ form whose question 3.4 is the one people forget: are there assessments voted and not yet payable, or expected?

If those documents do not arrive before the promise is drafted, clause 9.1 makes it conditional on your review of them: the seller delivers them within the period written in, and you have seven days after it expires to notify in writing, failing which you are deemed to have waived the condition. The maintenance logbook and the fund study are covered in condo fees and the contingency fund.

3. A certificate of location that no longer tells the truth

Clause 10.3 requires the seller to provide a certificate reflecting the current physical state of the premises, and the form gives the examples: heat pump, deck, fence, shed, pool. An addition, a pool or a shed added afterwards leaves it silent on what matters.

The Chambre des notaires has settled the question of age: a lifespan of less than 10 years is an essential criterion for the useful life of a certificate. It adds that a more recent certificate may also no longer describe the current state, and that the officiating notary’s judgment remains necessary. Providing it is the seller’s obligation and his cost, and the delay is the real problem: the OACIQ puts preparation at four to six weeks on average, and the 2026 suggested fee of the Ordre des arpenteurs-géomètres du Québec places an ordinary residential certificate at around $1,630 plus taxes. Ask for its date at the first visit.

4. The inspection condition mishandled

This one is entirely procedural. If the inspection reveals a factor capable of significantly reducing the value or income of the immovable or increasing its expenses, clause 8.1 requires the buyer to notify the seller in writing and give him a copy of the report, no later than the fourth day following the expiry of the inspection period, before 8 p.m.

Three details decide the file: the notice goes to the seller, it comes with the full report and not an excerpt, and it arrives before 8 p.m. on the right day. Otherwise the buyer is deemed to have waived the condition. And the notice ends the promise the moment it is received, so any renegotiation happens before you send it. The rest is in pre-purchase inspection: what it costs and when to do it.

5. The financing condition treated as a formality

A pre-approval is not an approval. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada puts it plainly: the pre-approved amount is a maximum, it does not guarantee the loan, and a lender can refuse a pre-approved buyer. Before approving, the lender verifies that the property meets certain standards, and the approved amount will depend on its value and on your down payment.

If the lender’s appraisal puts that value below the accepted price, the loan follows the value, not your offer. CMHC then recommends talking to your lender and your broker to look at the options.

Clause 6.2 requires you to give the seller, within the period written in, a copy of a lender’s commitment to grant the loan described in clause 6.1. Without that proof, clause 6.3 gives the seller five days to require a new application with a lender he designates or to void the promise; otherwise it becomes void anyway.

6. Latent defects, and the sale at the buyer’s risk

Article 1726 requires the seller to warrant the property free of latent defects, but he warrants neither a latent defect known to the buyer nor an apparent defect: one a prudent and diligent buyer can discover without an expert.

Article 1732 allows the parties to reduce that warranty or exclude it entirely, though the seller can never be released from his personal acts: that is clause 12.1, sale without legal warranty, at the buyer’s risk. But article 1733 forbids him to exclude or limit his liability if he did not disclose defects he knew of or could not have been unaware of, except where the buyer buys at his own risk from a non professional seller.

Even then, he must answer the Declarations by the seller of the immovable form accurately: a false answer is a personal act, not silence. And article 1739 requires a buyer who discovers a defect to give written notice within a reasonable time. The other red flags you can verify on paper are here.

7. The deposit mistaken for a right to walk

Many buyers believe they can give up their deposit and walk. Article 1711 says the opposite: any sum paid in connection with a promise of sale is presumed to be a deposit on the price, unless the contract provides otherwise. It is not forfeit money, and article 1712 adds that failure to pass title lets the other party obtain a judgment standing in its place.

Clause 4.3 follows the money: remitted to the broker acting as trustee, placed in trust, then applied to the price at the notary; if the promise becomes null and void, it is refunded to the depositor without interest, on written request. Getting out of a promise is therefore not paying to leave, it is invoking a condition within the period and in the manner provided, as buying with cash in Quebec explains.

What to actually do

Documents to ask for early, before the offer if possible, otherwise by naming them in clause 9.1: the certificate of location with its date, the Declarations by the seller, the municipal and school tax bills, the permits and invoices for recent work. In a co-ownership, add the syndicate’s certificate, two years of minutes, the financial statements, the maintenance logbook, the fund study and the statement of common expenses due.

Who to bring in. The notary first, chosen before you sign the promise so his name appears in it, since he is the one who examines the titles and settles the charges out of the sale proceeds: his work follows a precise order. A building inspector, present with you. Your lender or a mortgage broker certified by the Autorité des marchés financiers. A lawyer as soon as a dispute appears over title or a defect.

None of these seven failures calls for instinct. Each is settled by a dated document, a written notice and a deadline respected.

A transaction in progress getting complicated, or a document you cannot obtain? Write to me and we will look together at what can still be negotiated.