Can you sell a house with a wood-burning fireplace in Montreal?

Can you sell a Montreal house with a wood-burning fireplace or a wood stove?

Yes. No sentence cited on this page forbids the sale because the house has a wood-burning fireplace or a wood stove, because the device is not the one article 5 describes, or because you cannot find a declaration. What the sale does not skip is saying what you know. The office consolidation of the By-law concerning solid-fuel-burning devices and fireplaces, 15-069, is updated to September 12, 2017, and says it was prepared for convenience only and has no official value. The sentences below are that text. A notary, or the City, reads the official by-law and each amendment (By-law 15-069, office consolidation of September 12, 2017).

City council enacted the by-law at its meeting of August 17, 2015. The English text of the by-law says the public notice was posted at city hall and published in The Gazette on August 24, 2015. Article 11 says the by-law comes into force in accordance with the law, and that article 5 takes effect on October 1, 2018. No sentence in article 11 says a deed waits for that date, or for a declaration (By-law 15-069, English text).

What does by-law 15-069 say about a device that is already in the house?

Article 1 applies the by-law to solid-fuel-burning devices and fireplaces, except a device used for cooking food, for commercial purposes, installed in a building where commercial use is authorized. Article 5 says no solid-fuel-burning device or fireplace may be used or left to be used unless it is recognized by an organization identified in schedule B, as part of a certification process, establishing that it has an emission rate equal to or less than 2.5 g/hr of fine particles into the atmosphere. The second paragraph says that prohibition does not apply to an EPA or CAN/CSA-B415.1 certified pellet device installed before article 5 takes effect, in accordance with the municipal by-law applicable at the time of installation. Article 5 is the use rule, and article 11 writes October 1, 2018, as the date it takes effect. No sentence in article 5 orders the removal of a device that is already there, and no sentence says the deed waits for a removal (office consolidation, articles 1, 5 and 11).

Article 6 says no solid-fuel-burning device or fireplace may be used or left to be used when a smog warning issued by Environment Canada is in effect for a region that includes Montréal, in whole or in part. Article 6 does not except a device that article 5 allows. Article 7 says the prohibitions under articles 5 and 6 do not apply when an electrical failure affecting the building in which the device or fireplace is located lasts more than 3 hours (articles 6 and 7).

The City’s English page, last updated February 24, 2023, says it is now prohibited to use a solid fuel-burning appliance unless it emits fewer than 2.5 grams of particles per hour, and that this rate must be certified by the EPA or be compliant with Canadian standard CSA/B415.1-10. “Fewer than” on that page is not the same words as “equal to or less than” in article 5. The page says a gas or electric fireplace is not a solid-fuel burning appliance. It says that, in the event of smog, the use of all solid fuel-burning appliances, including certified appliances, is prohibited, and that you may use the stove or fireplace, whether or not it is certified, if a power outage in the building lasts more than three hours. “More than three hours” on that page is not the same words as “more than 3 hours” in article 7. This page does not merge them. The same page says installing a filter or using ecological logs does not guarantee the appliance’s environmental efficiency, and that only EPA-certified appliances or appliances compliant with CSA/B415.1-10 are authorized in all of Montréal’s 19 boroughs. This page follows that page for those 19 boroughs. It does not state the rule of a linked city (Solid fuel-burning stoves and fireplaces, last updated February 24, 2023).

Article 12 of 15-069 replaced article 12 of the By-law concerning the construction and conversion of buildings, 11-018. The administrative codification of 11-018, dated 2 September 2025, says it was prepared only for the reader’s convenience and has no official value. Its article 12 says the installation, inside a building, of any solid-fuel-burning device or fireplace is prohibited unless the device or fireplace has been recognized by an organization identified in schedule B of 15-069, as part of a certification process, as having an emission rate equal to or less than 2.5 g/h of fine particles. The codification writes “2.5 g/h”. The English consolidation of 15-069 writes “2.5 g/hr”. This page does not merge the two abbreviations. That article does not apply to a device used to cook food, for commercial purposes, in a building where commercial use is authorized. For that article, installation includes replacement. No sentence in that article orders the removal of a device already installed, and no sentence says the deed waits for a permit (codification of by-law 11-018, 2 September 2025, article 12, page in French).

Which certification does schedule B name, and what do the borough blocks add?

Schedule B of the English consolidation names the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Services POLYTESTS, and it describes Services POLYTESTS as the laboratory providing CSA/B415.1-10 certification testing. Ordinance 1, read here in French, replaces that list in order to add Services POLYTESTS. The order says the executive committee adopted it at the sitting of 6 September 2017, and that it was promulgated by a public notice posted at city hall and published in Le Devoir on 12 September 2017. The consolidation’s note says it contains that ordinance (Ordinance 1, 6 September 2017, page in French).

The City’s declaration page, last updated February 26, 2026, says the declaration form must indicate whether the appliance is certified, that the certification must guarantee a maximum emission of 2.5 grams of particles per hour, and that only two certifications are recognized, the EPA and CSA/B415.1-10. “Maximum” and “only two certifications” are that page’s words. Article 5 is a recognition by an organization in schedule B. The second paragraph of article 5 writes “CAN/CSA-B415.1”, without “-10”, and only for the pellet device it describes. This page does not merge those wordings. The topic page says to check that the technical specifications mention one of the certifications and the number of grams per hour (Declare a solid fuel-burning stove or fireplace, last updated February 26, 2026).

The City’s page on installing, replacing or removing a fireplace or a stove, updated 5 February 2026, is in French. The block shown before a borough is chosen says you must obtain a permit to install, replace or remove a solid-fuel device, and that, for a solid-fuel device, only the installation of a pellet appliance certified EPA or CAN/CSA-B415.1 is authorized. This page does not ask anyone to install, replace or remove a device, or to apply for a permit. The Ahuntsic-Cartierville block on the same page says the use of a solid fuel is prohibited unless the device or fireplace is certified by the EPA, and that the emission rate must be equal to or less than 2,5 g/h. Those two blocks are not article 5, and they are not the same sentence. This page does not pick one block as the rule for the Island. Where an exterior chimney is built or installed, the document list includes a certificate of location. That list is a permit file. It does not say the certificate states whether a device is certified (Installer, remplacer ou enlever un foyer ou un poêle, updated 5 February 2026, page in French).

What do you declare to the City, and which date does each text write?

Article 3 says the owner must declare the device or fireplace to the authority having jurisdiction within 120 days following its installation or construction, by completing the form in schedule A. The owner of a device or fireplace existing at the date the by-law comes into force must declare it, in accordance with the first paragraph, within 120 days from that date. Article 4 says the owner who replaces or removes a device or fireplace must declare it within 120 days of that replacement or removal, by the same form. Article 2 says the authority having jurisdiction is the director of the Service de l’environnement or the director’s authorized representative. The English by-law dates the public notice August 24, 2015. Article 3’s second paragraph counts 120 days from the coming into force. It does not write a fresh 120 days for a later buyer (articles 2, 3 and 4).

The declaration page, last updated February 26, 2026, says you must declare a solid fuel-burning appliance whether or not it is recent, and that you submit a new declaration if you replace or remove an appliance that has already been declared. It says the declaration must be submitted within 120 days (four months) of installing, replacing or removing the appliance, or within 120 days of purchasing the home if you are a new owner. That purchase sentence is not article 3. This page does not merge them. The page says the building owner is responsible, and that an owner of several dwellings declares each one, with one declaration per dwelling. The topic page, last updated February 24, 2023, says that if you still own an old solid-fuel burning appliance, you absolutely must declare it even if you no longer use it. Article 3 declares the device. It does not use that sentence. This page does not ask anyone to file a declaration. (declaration page).

The City’s article, updated 27 May 2026, is in French. It says the City put a wood-heating by-law in place in 2015, that since then it is prohibited to use a wood device or fireplace during smog warnings, and that if the fireplace is not in conformity the prohibition is in force at all times. “In 2015” on that page is not the same words as “October 1, 2018” in article 11. Article 6 is the smog sentence, and it does not wait for October 1, 2018. This page does not merge the article’s year with article 5 (Chauffage au bois : un règlement qui améliore la qualité de l’air, updated 27 May 2026, page in French).

What does the seller’s form ask, and what can you say about the chimney?

On the French PDF read for this page, marked DV 00001 and V24, copyright 2012 and 2022, the answers are to your knowledge and in good faith. The form says it must be used when a brokerage contract for the sale of an immovable is made with a private individual, for a chiefly residential immovable of fewer than 5 dwellings, excluding divided co-ownership. On a sale that is not made under that contract, you still say what you know, in writing. How that sale runs is How do you sell a house without a real estate broker in Quebec?. The English PDF, read for the English wording, shows V17 in the margin. This page does not call the two files one edition (Déclarations du vendeur sur l’immeuble, form DV, page in French).

The items below follow the French V24 wording. D12.1 asks the energy source of the main heating system, and wood is one box. D12.9 asks whether the immovable is equipped with a supplemental heating device. If the answer is yes, the type includes a stove or a fireplace, and the energy source includes wood and pellets. The form asks whether you have documents attesting to the characteristics and the year of installation, the year, the frequency of use, whether there have been problems, and whether it complies with the applicable regulations. The form asks that last question. This page does not answer it for a given house. D12.10 asks whether the main or supplemental heating system includes a chimney. If yes, it asks the date of the last sweep, how often it is swept, whether you have documents on the characteristics and the year of installation, and whether the chimney complies with the applicable regulations. What you can say, if you know it, is the type of device, whether a label or a technical sheet names a certification, whether a declaration was made to the City, whether the device is used or kept and not used, and, in general terms, what you know about the chimney. This page does not add a chimney rule the form does not ask, and it does not call an unused fireplace a category the by-law does not write. D15 is the clause number, the place, the year, and how the situation was dealt with, if it was. D14.5 asks whether, in addition to what is already mentioned, anything else could affect the value, the income, the expenses or the use. The form asks that question. This page does not answer it with a figure, and it does not say that a fireplace or a stove raises or lowers a price.

Can you sell with the device as it is, and without the legal warranty?

Two paths are not the same promise. You can sell with the device as it is, and say what you know, on the form when that form is used and in writing when it is not. Selling without the legal warranty is a clause in the promise and the deed. It does not cover a problem you knew and did not disclose. Article 5’s prohibition on use, from the date article 11 writes, and article 6’s smog prohibition, are the by-law’s. No page cited here says the deed, or the choice of buyer, erases them.

Article 1726 is the warranty of quality. The seller warrants that the property and its accessories are, at the time of the sale, free of latent defects which render it unfit for the use for which it was intended or which so diminish its usefulness that the buyer would not have bought it or paid so high a price if he had been aware of them. The seller is not bound to warrant a latent defect known to the buyer or an apparent defect. An apparent defect is one that can be perceived by a prudent and diligent buyer without any need of an expert (Civil Code of Québec, article 1726). This page does not decide that a wood-burning fireplace, or the lack of a certification, is a latent defect. Article 1728, in the text in force since 1 May 2014, says that if the seller was aware or could not have been unaware of the latent defect, he is bound not only to restore the price, but also to make reparation for the injury suffered by the buyer (article 1728).

Article 1732, in the text in force since 6 April 2016, says the parties may, in their contract, add to the obligations of legal warranty, diminish its effects or exclude it altogether, but in no case may the seller exempt himself from liability for his personal acts or omissions (article 1732). Article 1733 says a seller may not exclude or limit his liability unless he has disclosed the defects of which he was aware or could not have been unaware and which affect the right of ownership or the quality of the property. An exception may be made to this rule where a buyer buys property at his own risk from a seller who is not a professional seller (article 1733). The exception is not a permission to stay silent. Éducaloi says that, if the exclusion is real, you cannot sue for a hidden defect, and what remains is to show that the truth was voluntarily hidden on a point so important that the buyer would not have bought, or not at the same price. Éducaloi also says the legal warranty cannot be invoked for a problem that was declared in the seller’s declaration (Immobilier : acheter sans garantie légale, page in French). The OACIQ says the legal warranty waiver will not protect the seller against legal action for defects of which he was aware and which he should have disclosed (The legal warranty of ownership and quality). How the clause is written is the as-is page already cited. A notary or a lawyer reads the clause. This page does not.

A direct sale is a further path. Bruce Malcolm buys houses himself on the Island of Montreal and the surrounding areas. He holds no broker, agent or appraiser licence, and he is not an advisor. There is no inspection and no commission. An offer with no inspection condition does not, by itself, set aside the legal warranty of quality. You say what you know about the fireplace or the stove when you send the address: the type, whether a label or a sheet names a certification, whether a declaration was made to the City, whether the device is used or kept and not used, and what you know about the chimney, or that you do not know. He does not file the declaration, he does not inspect the chimney, and he does not remove or replace the device. The closing date is one you choose once the notary can sign. Sending the address starts a conversation (request an offer). The form does not commit you. A notary or a lawyer reads the deed.