How do you sell a parent's house in Quebec?

If your parent can still decide, who signs the sale?

Your parent signs, and so does every other owner on title. A child can gather papers, talk to the notary and help with the move. A child cannot sign because the child will one day inherit, or because the child is the one who found the residence. The decision stays with the person who owns the house, for as long as that person can still decide.

Marriage adds one consent that is not a child’s. Article 404 of the Civil Code of Québec says that neither spouse, if the owner of an immovable with fewer than five dwellings that is used in whole or in part as the family residence, may alienate it without the written consent of the other. A spouse who neither consented nor ratified the act may ask the court to annul it if a declaration of family residence was registered against the immovable. That consent is the other spouse’s. The papers a Quebec sale usually needs are listed in What documents do I need to sell a house in Quebec?.

Can a power of attorney be used to sell the house, and what will the notary check?

Yes, if it is in writing, it expressly allows this sale, and your parent can still consent. A power of attorney, also called a mandate or a procuration, is not a protection mandate. The Gouvernement du Québec says the two are different, and that a power of attorney worded too broadly is limited to simple administration, so it would not allow the sale of the house without special permission. Article 2135 says the same thing in the Code: a mandate in general terms confers simple administration only, and the power to do other acts is conferred only by an express mandate, except where a protection mandate confers full administration. Éducaloi says a power of attorney to sell a house must be in writing, that the person who signs it must be of sound mind, and that this generally remains true while the mandatary acts. Éducaloi also says the power of attorney becomes invalid if a court declares the mandator incapacitated.

Article 2136 adds only what can be inferred from the mandate, and the incidental acts necessary to perform it. It does not turn a general wording into a power to sell. Article 2175 ends a mandate by revocation, by the mandatary’s renunciation, by the extinction of the power, or by the death of either person. Bankruptcy ends it too, except a protection mandate given by gratuitous title. The same article says a mandate may also end, in certain cases, when tutorship to a person of full age is instituted or a protection mandate is homologated. The notary checks the writing, the express power to sell this house, that your parent could consent when it was signed and can still consent, and that no court declaration, tutorship or homologation has ended it. The Gouvernement du Québec says registration with a notary is not required.

What happens if your parent can no longer decide?

A protection mandate cannot be used the day it is signed. Article 2166 says it is given by a person of full age in anticipation of incapacity, by a notarial act en minute or in the presence of witnesses, and that it may not be made jointly. Performance is conditional on the incapacity being ascertained by medical and psychosocial assessments, and on homologation by the court on the mandatary’s application. The Gouvernement du Québec says the mandate has no effect until that judgment, and that the mandatary cannot act before it, including to pay bills or manage property. The same page says the whole process can take several months and involves costs covered by the mandator’s patrimony. The mandatary may pay those costs and be reimbursed. This page will not invent a fee or a number of months. If the mandate cannot be homologated, the court may institute tutorship.

If there is no protection mandate, or it cannot be homologated, tutorship to a person of full age is the protective regime. Article 268 says the court institutes tutorship when the person is incapable of caring for themself or of administering property and needs to be represented. The court appoints a tutor to the person, to property, or to both, and it may instead authorize temporary representation. Articles 281 and 291, which instituted curatorship and the adviser to a person of full age, are repealed as of 1 November 2022. The Curateur public said that day that curatorship is abolished and tutorship is the only protective regime, and that the judgment must state which acts the person may do alone, with assistance, or only by representation. Article 288 is that modulation. The Curateur public’s 2023-2024 annual report says people who had a curatorship continue to be represented for the same acts, and that their curator became a tutor. At reassessment, the assessors decide whether the tutorship should change.

One sale does not always require a tutorship. Article 297.1 lets the court authorize a person to perform a specific act in the name of a person of full age who needs to be represented for that act. Éducaloi and JuridiQC both give selling a house as an example. Article 297.4 says the court fixes the terms. Article 297.6 says every decision is made in the person’s interest, respects their rights and safeguards their autonomy, taking wishes and preferences into account. Article 297.9 ends the representation when the act is done, or by operation of law if a tutorship is instituted or a protection mandate is homologated. Éducaloi says the court grants some acts, such as selling a house, only if the conditions it sets are met, and gives necessity for paying debts as an example of such a condition. That example is not a rule that every sale must pay debts.

Does the sale of a protected person’s house need court authorization?

It depends which measure is in the file. Under a homologated protection mandate, the powers are the ones the mandate gives. Article 2135 again: general terms are simple administration, and other acts need an express power, unless the protection mandate confers full administration. Article 1301 limits simple administration to preserving the property and maintaining its ordinary use. Article 1306 describes full administration, and article 1307 allows alienation by onerous title so the administrator can perform those obligations. JuridiQC says a mandate that confers full administration can include selling the property, and that a mandate which says nothing confers simple administration. The same page says a mandatary with simple administration may have to obtain court authorization to sell property that is not likely to perish or to lose value quickly. Homologation does not add a power the mandate never gave. Article 2138 requires the mandatary to act honestly and faithfully in the mandator’s best interest and to avoid a conflict. JuridiQC adds that, with some exceptions, the mandatary cannot buy the mandator’s property.

Under tutorship, article 286 gives the tutor simple administration of the property, exercised in the same manner as the tutor to a minor, unless the court decides otherwise. That is why article 213 is the rule the notary reads for an immovable: the tutor obtains the authorization of the tutorship council or, if the property is worth more than $40,000, of the court, which seeks the council’s advice. The grounds in article 213 are written for a minor: to ensure education and maintenance, to pay debts, to maintain the property in good order, or to safeguard the value of the patrimony. The Curateur public’s guide for a tutor to a person of full age states the same council-or-court split at $40,000, and it states the grounds in adult words: the sale is necessary for the person’s well-being, to pay debts, to keep a property in good condition, to preserve the patrimony, or because the property carries heavy charges and does not serve the person. The guide also says to avoid a conflict of interest. Article 214 says no tutor may alienate property worth more than $40,000 without first obtaining an expert’s appraisal, except listed securities traded on a recognized exchange. Article 307 of the Code of Civil Procedure says an application to sell property of a person of full age under tutorship states the reasons, describes the property, proposes how it will be sold, and attaches an expert’s appraisal and, where applicable, the council’s opinion. The authorization is the council’s or the court’s. It is not a vote of the children.

Can the sale be timed with a move into a private seniors’ residence?

The sale of a house your parent owns, and the lease of a private seniors’ residence, are separate. Nothing on the Tribunal administratif du logement pages, or in article 1974, requires the house to be sold before the move. The deed is signed on the day the notary can receive it, by the person who has authority to sign. When do you have to move out after selling a house in Quebec? is about that date once a deed exists. The price belongs to your parent. A mandatary uses it in the mandator’s interest, under article 2138. A tutor uses it for the person under tutorship. It is not a distribution to the children.

A senior who is leaving a house or a condo they own still signs the residence lease on the Tribunal’s official form. The Tribunal says the residence must attach the mandatory schedule, listing each personal service and its cost, and that the resident pays the rent. This page will not quote a residence fee. If your parent is already a lessee somewhere else, article 1974 lets a senior resiliate that lease when permanently admitted to a residential and long-term care centre, a facility of an intermediate resource, a private seniors’ residence where the nursing care and personal assistance their health requires are provided, or another lodging where such care is provided, whether or not they already live there. The Tribunal’s page on that resiliation says it takes effect two months after notice is sent when the lease is for 12 months or more, and one month after notice when the lease is indeterminate or shorter, unless the parties agree to an earlier date or the vacated dwelling is re-leased in that period. The notice needs an acknowledgement from the authority and a certificate from an authorized person. That clock is a lease clock. It is not a clock for selling a house your parent owns.

What happens to the principal residence exemption when your parent moves out?

The disposition is your parent’s, and the exemption is a designation, not an automatic result of the move. The Canada Revenue Agency says a sale of a property that was at any time a principal residence is reported on Schedule 3 and on Form T2091(IND). A property qualifies for a year if it is a housing unit, your parent owns it, your parent or their current or former spouse or common-law partner or child lived in it at some time during the year, and your parent designates it. The designation is made when the property is sold. For 1982 and later years, only one home can be designated as the family’s principal residence for each year. If the house was not the principal residence for every year it was owned, the gain for the years that were not designated is reported.

The Agency names a special rule, the “plus 1” rule. It lets a person treat both properties as eligible for the exemption for a year when one residence is sold and another is purchased in the same year, even though only one may be designated for that year. The person must have been resident in Canada during the year the residence was purchased. A lease in a private seniors’ residence is not the purchase of another residence, so this page does not treat the move as that rule. If the house starts to be used to earn income, the Agency says there can be a deemed disposition at fair market value. A signed letter filed with the return for the year of that change can elect subsection 45(2) of the Income Tax Act. While the election is in effect, the property can be designated for up to four years even if it is not lived in, if no other property is designated and the person is a resident of Canada, and capital cost allowance cannot be claimed. An accountant applies that election to one file. This page will not calculate a gain, and it will not say the exemption is automatic.

What if the children do not agree on the sale?

If your parent can still decide, and your parent is the only owner, disagreement among the children does not replace the signature and does not block it. The parent decides. A child who holds a power of attorney or a homologated mandate must still stay inside that document. Article 2138 forbids the mandatary to put a personal interest in conflict with the mandator’s, and JuridiQC says that, with some exceptions, the mandatary cannot buy the property. Wanting the house for oneself, while holding the power to sell it, is that conflict.

Under tutorship, the authorization is the tutorship council’s or the court’s, under articles 286 and 213. It is not a family vote. A co-owner’s own signature is a different limit, and so is the other spouse’s written consent under article 404. This page does not say a sale to a child is forbidden. It says the conflict rule, and the authorization in the file, still apply. An offer does not collect a signature the notary says is missing.

Can the house be sold as it stands, without emptying it first?

Yes. The house can be sold as it stands. Nobody has to empty it, or put it in order, before a conversation about a sale. The authority rules above do not change because the sale is direct. The person who signs is still the parent, the mandatary whose writing allows the sale, the mandatary under a homologated mandate that gives the power, the tutor with the council’s or the court’s authorization, or the temporary representative named for this act.

Bruce Malcolm buys houses himself in Montreal and on the West Island. He holds no broker, agent or appraiser licence, and this page is not legal or tax advice. There are no showings and no inspection. The closing date is real only when the notary can sign. What an as-is sale means in Quebec is in Selling a house as-is in Quebec. Send the address when the person who can sign is ready to talk (request an offer). The form does not commit anyone.