Can you sell a house with lead pipes in Montreal?

Can you sell a Montreal house that still has a lead water service line?

Yes. No statute cited on this page forbids the sale because the water service line is still lead. What the sale does not skip is saying what you know. A defect the buyer has been told about is not a hidden one. No statute cited here makes the replacement a condition of the deed.

Replacing a lead private portion is the owner’s responsibility under by-law 20-030, and the City bills that portion when the City does the work.

How do you check whether the service line is lead?

Start with the City’s map. The English map page, updated 19 June 2023, shows a summary for the address: possibility of lead, lead, or no lead. For a building that has not yet been screened, that page bases the presumption on construction before 1970 and on eight dwellings or fewer. The same page says its last update includes the 2022 screening results, so the map itself is the check, not that sentence about 2022 (Map of lead service lines). The French map is Carte des entrées d’eau en plomb.

The pipe you can see is not the whole line. The City’s page on how to recognize a lead line, updated 5 October 2021, describes the service line as the small pipe, usually less than 2 inches, from the water main in the street to the building. It has two sections, the City’s and the owner’s, from inside the building to the property line. Either section can be lead while the other is not. Where you can see the pipe, that page says lead is grey, does not ring when struck, shows a metallic mark when scratched, and does not attract a magnet. The same page says that even if the indoor pipe is not lead, an underground portion may be, and that water screening is how that is known. It also says solder, taps and accessories can be other sources. The City’s screening measures lead at the kitchen faucet. The same page says that screening confirms whether lead is in the water and is not a regulatory analysis by a certified laboratory (How to recognize a lead water service line).

Who may ask the City to screen, and which buildings the City calls likely, is not one sentence on every page. The French request page, updated 27 July 2026, says the building must have 8 dwellings or fewer and have been built before 1970. The annual program runs from June to October. The form goes by mail to Section Dépistage et projets, 801 rue Brennan, 3rd floor, Montréal, Quebec H3C 0G4, or by email to plomb@montreal.ca (Demander le dépistage, page in French). The English topic page says the buildings likely to be affected have eight or fewer dwellings and were built before 1970 (Lead in your water). The French topic page, updated 9 July 2025, says fewer than 8 dwellings, and built before 1970 (Plomb dans l’eau, page in French). This page does not merge “8 or fewer” and “fewer than 8”.

Who replaces the public portion, and who replaces the private portion?

The public portion runs from the water main to the property line. The City replaces it at no charge to the owner, usually when the road is being rebuilt or when water lines are being repaired or rebuilt. The private portion runs from the property line to the indoor shut-off valve. Since 2021, under the By-law concerning connections to the waterworks and sewer systems and storm water management (20-030), when replacement of lead service lines on public property is scheduled, the City also replaces the private portion if it is lead or another non-compliant material that is or has been in contact with lead. That private work is at the owner’s expense (Replacing your water service line is your responsibility).

The City’s page on why the lines are replaced says that, if the private portion is still lead when the City is doing work that requires excavation, the City’s contractor replaces it at the same time as the public portion, in accordance with article 58 of by-law 20-030, and the City charges the owner (Why replace lead service lines?).

After the private portion has been replaced, you declare the material to the City. An invoice or photos are acceptable proof. If that private portion, from inside the building to the property line, has been replaced in copper, and the public portion could still be lead, you can ask the City to replace the public portion sooner. The City then screens. If the screening finds lead in the water, the address is placed on the City’s list. Replacement follows the City’s timetable and its capacity. The page does not give a date (Ask for the public portion to be replaced).

What happens after the City replaces the private portion, and what does a notice of non-compliance add?

The invoice is sent to the owner the year after the work. The City’s page sets out how that invoice is paid. This page does not restate that schedule. A notice of non-compliance is a separate clock. The City’s page says the private portion must still be replaced within 24 months after that notice, or the owner can be found in violation. No page cited here says a deed cancels that notice.

What do you declare, and what does the legal warranty still require?

On the OACIQ PDF read for this page, marked DV 00001 and V24, June 2022, the answers are to your knowledge and in good faith. The form does not have a box that asks whether the service line is lead. D3.4’s choice “plomb” is a product that spilled or contaminated the soil, with fuel oil, oil and mercury beside it. It is not the service line. D9.1 asks whether there have been plumbing problems, and the examples are a leak, pressure or flow that varies a lot, a pipe that freezes, rust in the water, an odour, poor drainage, a backup, an abnormal noise, or another problem you name. D9.7 asks whether the building has a water softener or a filtration system. D9.8, if the building is served by the municipal water system, asks whether the municipal water inlet has been changed, repaired or moved, and the year, and whether there have been problems with water quality or quantity. D13.2 asks whether tests or expert reports have been done, and it names water quality or flow among them. D14.5 asks whether anything else could affect the value, the income, the expenses or the use. D15 is where the detail goes: the place, the year, and how the situation was dealt with (Déclarations du vendeur sur l’immeuble, form DV). When that form is mandatory is the declaration page already cited. On a sale with no broker, you still say what you know, in writing (How do you sell a house without a real estate broker in Quebec?).

Article 1726 says the seller warrants that, at the time of the sale, the property and its accessories are 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 a prudent and diligent buyer can perceive without an expert (Civil Code of Québec, article 1726). Article 1728 says that 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).

Article 1730 is a different person. It binds the manufacturer, any person who distributes the property under their name or as their own, and any supplier, in particular an importer, to a seller’s warranty (Civil Code of Québec, article 1730). The article names those persons. It does not name the owner who sells their house. Article 1732 says the parties may add to the warranty, diminish its effects or exclude it, but in no case may the seller exempt himself from liability for his personal acts or omissions (Civil Code of Québec, article 1732). Article 1733 says a seller may not exclude or limit liability unless the defects he was aware of, or could not have been unaware of, and which affect the right of ownership or the quality of the property, were disclosed. 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). The exception is not a permission to stay silent.

Éducaloi says that, if the exclusion is real, the claim for a hidden defect is what is given up, and what remains is to show that the seller deliberately hid something so important that the buyer would not have bought, or would not have paid the same price (Immobilier : acheter sans garantie légale). 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 legal warranty of ownership and quality). How the clause is written is Selling a house as-is in Quebec. A notary or a lawyer reads the clause. This page does not.

Who may assess the line or replace it, and where does a health question go?

The City, or a maître mécanicien en tuyauterie who is a member of the Corporation des maîtres mécaniciens en tuyauterie du Québec. The City screens, and the City’s contractor does the replacement the City carries out. A replacement you arrange with a contractor is plumbing work done for someone else. The CMMTQ says subcategory 15.5 authorizes the plumbing work reserved to master pipe mechanics, including the piping and the accessories used to supply hot or cold water in a building (Sous-catégorie 15.5, CMMTQ, page in French). The same corporation says the Loi sur les maîtres mécaniciens en tuyauterie gives its members the exclusive right to do the plumbing work that Act covers, and that you check the member in the CMMTQ directory (Nos membres, CMMTQ, page in French). Bruce does not assess the line and does not replace it.

A health question goes to the official pages, not to this one. The City’s French topic page says the Direction régionale de santé publique de Montréal considers the health risk associated with lead in Montreal water to be low, and still recommends precautions. The City’s health page, updated 2 April 2025, says that, since 25 March 2021, the standard in force is 0.005 mg/L after a flow of 5 minutes and a stagnation of 30 minutes, and it points further questions to Info-Santé at 811 (Entrée d’eau en plomb : recommandations santé, page in French). Québec’s norms page, updated 14 October 2026, lists lead at 0.005 mg/L (Normes de qualité de l’eau, page in French). That figure is Schedule 1 of the Regulation respecting the quality of drinking water. Article 3 requires water made available for human consumption to meet Schedule 1 (Q-2, r. 40). Health Canada’s maximum acceptable concentration for total lead is 0.005 mg/L, which is 5 µg/L, on a sample taken at the tap with the protocol for the type of building. The same guideline says current science cannot identify a level under which lead is no longer associated with adverse effects, so levels should be kept as low as reasonably achievable (Guideline technical document, lead). The summary table says the most significant contribution is generally from the lead service line, and that the best approach is to remove the full lead service line (Guidelines summary tables). The INSPQ says the Quebec standard is 5 µg/L, the same value as that concentration, and that no threshold has been identified for the health effects (Plomb et eau potable). This page does not add a health instruction.

What are the ways to sell, including a direct sale as it stands?

Three paths are not the same promise. You can have the City do the replacement when it is already excavating, and say what you know about the line. You can have a maître mécanicien en tuyauterie, a member of the CMMTQ, replace the private portion before the City arrives, then declare the material. You can sell with the line 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. A notice of non-compliance, if you have one, remains the City’s 24-month sentence. No page cited here says the deed erases it.

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, appraiser, inspector or plumber 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 service line when you send the address: what the City’s map or a screening said, which portion is lead if you know it, any notice, and any work a maître mécanicien en tuyauterie or the City already did. He does not replace the line. 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. The City, or a maître mécanicien en tuyauterie who is a member of the CMMTQ, assesses the line and does any replacement. A health question goes to the pages already cited.