Selling a house as-is in Quebec

The warranty you already have, unless you set it aside

A sale in Quebec comes with a legal warranty unless the contract excludes it. The warranty of quality covers a latent defect: one the buyer did not know about, that a careful look would not have shown, that was already there, and that makes the property unfit for its use or so much less useful that the buyer would not have bought it, or would have paid less. An ordinary stain on a wall is not that. A leak behind a finished wall can be.

There is also a warranty that the seller has the right to sell. Setting aside the warranty of quality does not invent a title you do not have. The notary’s search is still the search.

The words “sans garantie légale”

Éducaloi says the seller can exclude the warranty, and that the promise and the deed then have to say the sale is made without any legal warranty, at the buyer’s risk: sans garantie légale, aux risques et périls de l’acheteur. The buyer has to be told before signing. It is not a surprise line on the last page.

If the exclusion is real, the usual claim for a hidden defect the seller did not know about is what the buyer gives up. What remains, Éducaloi says, is showing that the seller deliberately hid something so important that the buyer would not have bought, or would not have paid the same price. That proof is the buyer’s to make, and it is a harder case than the ordinary warranty. A household selling its own house can accept this clause once the notary has explained it. Éducaloi also says a person who sells properties as their business cannot push the warranty aside in the same way. Bruce’s offer is made without the legal warranty. The notary explains the clause. You do not sign it in order to stay quiet about a basement you already know floods.

The seller’s declaration, and the duty that exists without the form

When a broker lists a residential building of fewer than five dwellings, the brokerage rules call for a written seller’s declaration: the form Déclarations du vendeur sur l’immeuble. It asks what you know about the roof, the water, the insulation, the work done, and a long list of other facts. A false answer is not cured by an as-is clause. The form is a brokerage document. A sale with no broker, including a sale directly to Bruce, does not use that form as a listing requirement.

The duty to speak does not come from the form. You cannot lie, leave out a fact in order to get the sale, or dress up a problem so the price stays high. If you know the roof has been leaking for years, you say so. The clause covers the unknown condition of a house, which is the point of an as-is sale. It does not cover a story.

The trade-off, said plainly

You do not repair, paint, empty or stage the house for Bruce. There is no inspection and no commission. The buyer prices the risk of an unknown defect and takes the house with whatever lease is already in it. You give up the comfort of saying the warranty will answer a surprise later, and you keep the obligation to disclose what you know. For a full succession, or a plex you no longer want to manage, that trade is often the reason the conversation exists. It is a poor trade if you were counting on silence.