Can you sell a house with foundation problems in Quebec?

Can you sell without repairing the foundation first?

Yes. The articles on the warranty of quality do not make a repair a condition of the sale. You can sell the house as it stands. What the sale does not skip is saying what you know. A defect the buyer has been told about is not a hidden one. Article 1726 says the seller warrants that, at the time of the sale, the property is free of latent defects which render it unfit for its intended use, or which so diminish its usefulness that the buyer would not have bought it or paid so high a price. The seller is not bound to warrant a latent defect known to the buyer, or an apparent defect. An apparent defect is one a prudent and diligent buyer can perceive without an expert (Civil Code of Québec, article 1726).

The OACIQ’s page for the public says the same limit in shorter words. The warranty does not cover a defect known to the buyer, or a defect a prudent and diligent buyer can perceive. If the seller was aware of the defect, the liability is wider than the loss of value (The legal warranty of ownership and quality). Doing the work before you list is a choice. It is not the step that makes the sale lawful.

What do “known to the seller” and bad faith mean?

“Known to the buyer” and “known to the seller” are not the same sentence. Article 1726, above, is the buyer’s knowledge: a defect the buyer already knows is not warranted. Article 1728 is the seller’s knowledge. If the seller was aware of the latent defect, or could not have been unaware of it, the seller is bound not only to restore the price, but also to make reparation for the injury the buyer suffered (Civil Code of Québec, article 1728). “Was aware” is knowledge. “Could not have been unaware” is the Code’s second branch. The article does not list examples, and this page will not invent them.

“Bad faith” is not a defined term in articles 1726 to 1733. The OACIQ uses those words for a seller who purposely hid a defect he was aware of. On a sale that excludes the warranty, it says the buyer has no recourse unless the buyer can show that bad faith. Éducaloi says the remaining path is to prove the seller deliberately hid a fact so important that the buyer would not have bought, or would not have paid the same price (Immobilier : acheter sans garantie légale). Article 1732 is the Code’s own limit on an exclusion. The parties may add to the warranty, diminish it, or exclude it, but the seller may not exempt himself from liability for his personal acts or omissions (Civil Code of Québec, article 1732).

What does the seller’s declaration ask about foundations, water and cracks?

On a brokerage sale, the mandatory form Déclarations du vendeur sur l’immeuble is used when the brokerage contract is with an individual, for a chiefly residential immovable of fewer than five dwellings, excluding divided co-ownership. Divided co-ownership has its own form. The form says the answers are given to the best of the seller’s knowledge and in good faith. The seller provides the available documents that support them: invoices, warranties, plans, specifications, permits, reports and notices. Details go in section D15, including where, the year, how the situation was dealt with, and whether it is resolved (Déclarations du vendeur sur l’immeuble, form DV).

The questions that bear on a foundation are numbered. D3.1 asks whether soil problems have affected the immovable, including settlement, movement or unstable soil. D3.2 asks whether stabilization work has been done on the foundations, and the choices include piles and underpinning. D4.1 asks whether there has been water infiltration, and the basement or crawl space is one of the places. D5.1 asks the type of foundation: stone, wood, concrete block, concrete, or unknown. D5.2 asks whether problems have affected the basement or crawl space, and cracks in the foundation are one of the answers, with rot. D13.1 asks whether the immovable has been inspected and whether those reports can be provided. D13.2 asks whether other tests or expert reports have been done, and it names pyrite, pyrrhotite and the foundation drain. D2.4 asks whether a new-home warranty is still in force and whether you have the warranty documents. D2.12 asks whether an insurer, the municipality or the government has sent a notice of non-compliance. D2.13 asks whether an insurer has ever refused to insure the building in whole or in part.

The OACIQ’s public page on the form says a problem that can cause long-term damage must be declared even if it was remedied, and that movement every spring is declared (A report card on a property). Its guideline for brokers says a history of water damage can influence a buyer’s decision even after the damage was corrected, including when corrective work, an insurance claim or an expert report was required (Renseignements sur l’immeuble, page in French). 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.

Does a sale at the buyer’s risk protect a seller who knew and hid a defect?

No. 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. The same article makes an exception where a buyer buys at his own risk from a seller who is not a professional seller (Civil Code of Québec, article 1733). That exception is the opening for the words that, according to Éducaloi, must appear on the promise and the deed: without any legal warranty, at the buyer’s risk. The buyer has to be told before signing.

The exception does not erase article 1732, and it is not a cover. The OACIQ tells the seller’s broker that the waiver will not protect the seller against an action for defects of which he was aware and which he should have disclosed. The same page says that, depending on market conditions, excluding the warranty can reduce the interest of buyers and have an impact on the selling price. It states no percentage, so this page states none. The OACIQ also strongly recommends that brokers no longer use the phrase “without legal warranty at the buyer’s own risk,” because that complete exclusion cuts off warranties from earlier sellers as well. It prefers a partial clause that names the warranty excluded, the warranty of quality, and the sellers excluded, the immediate seller only (The legal warranty of ownership and quality). Éducaloi still describes the complete exclusion in those words. The notary reads the clause that is actually signed. Éducaloi’s remaining path is deliberate concealment of a fact that would have changed the decision or the price. What the clause does, and what it does not do, is in Selling a house as-is in Quebec.

Which foundation problems do official sources describe around Montreal?

Pyrite, in the fill under the slab. The OACIQ describes it as an iron sulphide in the stone fill used around foundation drains and under the concrete slabs of a cellar or a garage. Under certain conditions it can oxidize and swell, lift the slab, and crack the foundation and partitions, sometimes years after construction. The page says problems have been identified in the Greater Montreal area. It names the highest-risk areas as the South Shore from Châteauguay to Varennes, the east end of Montreal, including Rivière-des-Prairies, Pointe-aux-Trembles and Repentigny, and the West Island, including Lachine, Dorval, Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Pointe-Claire, Kirkland, Pierrefonds-Roxboro and Beaconsfield (High-risk areas for pyrite). The Régie du bâtiment du Québec says the same mineral, oxidizing in contact with humidity and oxygen under a foundation, can cause the concrete slab to heave and crack (Pyrite et pyrrhotite, page in French).

A crack is not, by itself, the test. The Association des consommateurs pour la qualité dans la construction says the Comité technique québécois wrote protocol CTQ-M200 for expert work on existing buildings, and that in most cases only a laboratory analysis of a sample of the slab, the backfill and the soil underneath can say whether the swelling is associated with pyrite. For new fill, the same page says the industry has applied voluntary standard CTQ-M100 since April 1999, and that an owner should ask for the original delivery slip showing the crushed stone is certified “DB” (La pyrite, page in French). The OACIQ says methodology CTQ-M200, though voluntary, is the only one recognized by the competent authorities, that a building inspection alone cannot detect a pyrite problem with certainty, and that a broker must not give an opinion on the origin of a crack. If a problem is detected, the OACIQ says it has to be corrected or the selling price has to take it into account, or the property may be difficult to sell (Pyrite ou pyrrhotite, page in French). No percentage is given. A separate page says the swelling index, the IPPG, is a scale from 0 to 100, not a percentage, and that the OACIQ has never set a threshold such as 10 (Clause pyrite et pourcentage, page in French).

Clay, in the St. Lawrence valley. The Régie du bâtiment says clay soils are in the most populated parts of Quebec, including that valley, and that they can be highly compressible. It says settlement under a house with a basement is usually negligible, because the weight of the house is offset by the soil that was dug out. Foundations on clay of low consistency, on organic soil or on fill, and concentrated loads such as a masonry chimney or a garage slab poured at ground level, need particular attention. Clay can also change volume in a drought, and some trees can change the water in the soil (Sol argileux, page in French). The page is about building on that soil. It does not say that every Montreal house is settling.

Water through a crack. The Government of Canada’s preparedness page says that, over time, cracks can let rain, ice and snowmelt in, and that a high water table can let groundwater in through a crack. It says to consult a professional when water is seeping through a crack, when a crack keeps growing, or when there is a large network of cracks (Foundation maintenance). That is a description of how water gets in. It is not a count of houses in Montreal.

Pyrrhotite is a different mineral, in the concrete rather than in the gravel under the slab. The OACIQ says it comes from aggregate in Mauricie quarries and may have been added to the concrete used to pour foundations, and that a petrographic analysis by a recognized laboratory is strongly recommended for buildings built between 1996 and 2008 in Mauricie (Pyrite ou pyrrhotite, page in French). The norms of Quebec’s program for homes damaged by pyrrhotite describe residential buildings in Mauricie and in Centre-du-Québec, built between 1996 and 2008 (Normes du programme, PDF). The program ended on 30 September 2026 (Programme pyrrhotite). It is not the pyrite-under-the-slab problem the OACIQ describes for Montreal.

Who can report on the structure before you list?

The Code does not make an engineer’s report a condition of listing. The Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec’s competence profile for building structure, framing and foundations is written for engineers who prepare studies and who design, inspect and supervise work in that field. Houses are among the residential buildings it names (Profil — structure de bâtiment, charpentes et fondations). A report from a member of that order, in that field, is a way to know what you are about to declare: what you can see, and whether the structure is moving. The OACIQ says a broker must not decide where a crack came from. This page will not decide it either.

The order’s guide on buildings says the plans and specifications for the structural elements of a building covered by the Engineers Act are signed and sealed by an engineer (Aide à la décision — bâtiments, PDF). That sentence is about documents for work. It is not a fee, and this page does not state one.

What does the buyer’s pre-purchase inspection change?

Éducaloi says the law does not require the buyer to hire an inspector, and that the buyer does have to be prudent about apparent defects. A pre-purchase inspection is a visual examination. It does not open walls, it does not guarantee that there is no latent defect, and a serious finding can be a reason to negotiate the price or to withdraw the offer. There is no professional order for these inspectors. Éducaloi says they hold a residential building-inspector certificate from the Régie du bâtiment du Québec, and that category 1 covers houses, condominiums and residential buildings of six dwellings or fewer (L’inspection préachat, page in French).

On a brokerage promise, the OACIQ’s page for buyers says the broker must recommend a full inspection, and that refusing one can matter later if a court asks whether the buyer was diligent (L’inspection, page in French). The organization’s forms say a promise with no inspection clause fits particular circumstances, for example when the immovable is to be replaced. For the person selling, the point is narrower. An inspection condition lets the buyer look, and then talk about the price or leave. It is the buyer’s inspection. It is not work you have to finish first.

What do the cited pages say about financing and insurance?

Only what they say. Desjardins describes a building inspection as a visual check made to find possible defects before the purchase is completed. The report covers the condition of the foundations, the roof, the structure and other parts. If the offer is conditional on that inspection and the report shows problematic elements, the buyer may be able to negotiate or to cancel the promise (Acheter une maison, page in French). That is an inspection condition on a promise. It is not a statement that a lender refuses a loan because of a crack.

On insurance, the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada says a home policy does not cover maintenance, or damage that comes from a lack of maintenance. It may cover sudden water damage from inside the home, such as a broken pipe. It may not cover floods or sewer backup unless extra coverage is bought, and in a very high-risk flood area a company may not offer that extra coverage (Insurance for unexpected events and disasters). The page does not say a foundation crack is a reason an insurer must refuse the house. The declaration asks, at D2.13, whether an insurer has already refused to insure the building, and at D2.12 whether a notice of non-compliance arrived. You answer what happened on your file.

Which past repairs, reports and warranties do you hand over?

The form’s own list is the list: invoices, warranties, plans, specifications, permits and reports that support the answers, and the D15 note of where, when, and whether the problem is resolved. D2.4 asks for the new-home warranty documents if that warranty is still in force. D13.2 asks whether you can provide the documents for a pyrite, pyrrhotite or foundation-drain test. The OACIQ’s pyrrhotite page says the seller’s broker sends a copy of the expert report, and the detailed invoice if repairs were done, to any buyer, whatever the result (Pyrite ou pyrrhotite, page in French). The papers a Quebec closing needs besides these are in What documents do I need to sell a house in Quebec?. What the seller pays at the notary is in The real costs of selling a house in Quebec. None of those pages, and not this one, states a price for foundation work.

Can a direct buyer make a firm offer for the house as it stands?

Yes. That is one way to sell. A promise that still depends on an inspection, or on a loan, can reopen the price or end when the report names the foundation. A direct buyer who takes the house as it stands, and whose offer has no inspection condition, is not that promise. The duty to say what you know is the same, and an offer with no inspection condition does not, by itself, set aside the legal warranty of quality. That depends on the warranty clause in the deed, which the notary reads.

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. You say what you know about the foundation when you send the address: cracks, water, past work, and any report you already have. 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.