About this video. The person on screen is an avatar generated by artificial intelligence in my likeness. The voice is mine, cloned from recordings of my own voice, and the edit adjusts the sound. The image and the voice may therefore differ from my real appearance and speech. The text is written and validated by me, and I am fully responsible for it. This method lets me publish regularly; it changes nothing about what is said. This video is in French — a full transcript in English is provided below.
Hello. There are the documents every sale requires. And there are the ones your situation adds — and those, no one names for you ahead of time.
The question, as it’s asked: “what documents do you need to sell a condo, a plex or a house that’s part of an estate”
Selling a property occupied by a tenant: the lease and the notices
In Quebec, the lease follows the dwelling, not the owner. The buyer inherits the terms.
A property occupied by a tenant adds its own stack of documents. A plex, a basement unit, a rented house. The sale is still possible — it’s the documents and the lead times that change.
What the buyer and their lender will want to see. The written lease, with the names and the dates. The notices of lease renewal or rent change sent over the years. Proof of the rents actually collected. And the notices exchanged with the tenant, whatever they are.
One point many owners discover too late: in Quebec, the lease follows the dwelling, not the owner. The buyer becomes the new landlord, on the terms already in place.
And the tenant’s rights during a sale — the showings, the notices, the lead times — are regulated. It’s not something you improvise.
The Tribunal administratif du logement, Quebec’s housing tribunal, publishes the information, and a lawyer or a notary answers specific cases. What I’m telling you is to pull out the leases and the notices before, not during.
The condo case: declaration, minutes, financial statements
In a condo, some of your documents aren’t in your home. They’re with the syndicate.
In a condo, the list of documents isn’t the same as for a single-family house.
If you own a unit in a divided co-ownership, some of the documents aren’t in your home. They’re with the syndicate of co-owners, or with the property manager.
What you ask the syndicate for: the declaration of co-ownership and its amendments, the minutes of the most recent meetings, the financial statements, the current budget, the information on the contingency fund, including the contingency fund study, and the building’s insurance.
The syndicate has its own procedure and its own lead time. A request made early is a request that has time to come through.
What these documents say about your rights, your obligations or what’s coming up in the building is a legal reading. It belongs to a notary.
My part is to tell you where to request them — and to do it before you have a date in mind.
Estate, undivided co-ownership and protection mandate: the notary from the start
A house in an estate or in undivided co-ownership: the first conversation isn’t with a broker.
Sometimes a house doesn’t simply belong to one person who decides alone. An estate. Undivided co-ownership among several owners. A person represented under a protection mandate.
In these situations, the first conversation isn’t with a broker. It’s with a notary.
Why. Because what needs to be known — who can sign, with which documents and under which procedure — is a legal question. It gets settled at the start, not along the way.
What you can start gathering in the meantime: what your notary will ask you for. The notary is the one who will tell you which papers are needed in your situation. I don’t draw up that list in their place.
I won’t tell you anything more about the content of these documents: the notary is the one who reads them.
What I can tell you is that these steps have their own timeline, and that timeline isn’t yours. That’s a reason to start early.
The well, the septic system and the pool
A pool installed before 2010 has until September 30, 2027 to comply.
Three pieces of equipment come with their own paperwork, and they hold up a sale more often than you’d think.
The well. The buyer and their lender will want a recent water analysis, done by an accredited laboratory. Also pull out the drilling report if you have it, and the pump maintenance invoices.
The septic system. There’s an installation permit issued by the municipality, and often a certificate of compliance produced at the time of the work. The requirements are set by your municipality — so that’s where the question gets asked.
The pool. The provincial regulation on residential swimming pool safety has been in force since 2021. Pools installed before November 1, 2010 have until September 30, 2027 to comply — a deadline already pushed back once. If your pool predates 2010, it’s a question a buyer may ask. Pull out the permit, the installation invoice, and any notice received from your town.
In all three cases, the approach is the same: a call to your municipality, and a written request. These documents are requested ahead of time, not when an offer is on the table.
Energy statements and insurance documents
Your energy supplier keeps your last twelve months of consumption. Go get them before anyone asks.
That leaves the energy consumption statements and the insurance documents. Two different files, two different suppliers, and you’re the one who requests both.
The energy statements, first. Electricity, gas, heating oil, propane, delivered firewood. Most suppliers give access to your consumption history in your online customer account. You pull the last twelve months and print them.
A buyer often asks the question. A documented answer isn’t the same thing as an estimate from memory.
Home insurance, next. You pull out the current policy, and the endorsements if there are any. You also note past claims, with the year and what was done.
One useful thing to know: your insurer holds that history. You can ask them for a statement of your claims. What you can obtain, and in what form, your insurer will tell you.
What your policy covers or doesn’t cover, and what a past claim implies, is a question for your insurer or your insurance broker. That’s their job. It isn’t mine.
The expert reports you already have in hand
You have an old expert report in a box in the basement. Don’t leave it there.
You may already have expert reports in hand. An engineer’s report, a roofer’s report, a laboratory result.
Many owners have one in a box and no longer think about it, because the document is old.
An old report is still a written document, signed and dated by the person who produced it, with their name on it. A memory isn’t. Between the two, the one that carries a date and a signature is worth more.
So you pull them out. All of them. Even the one you’d put away without rereading it.
Two things to note on each: the date, and the name of the professional who signed it.
A report says nothing about the condition today. A document from 2018 describes 2018.
The only person who can speak to the current condition is the professional in the field concerned. A structural engineer, a roofer, an accredited laboratory, depending on the subject.
Who to call, and for what
I don’t do the inspection. My role is to know where to look and who to call.
- Notary
- Syndicate of co-owners
- Accredited laboratory
Frequently asked questions
Get a value report for your property, and a marketing plan
Get a value report for your property, and a marketing plan — comparables, features, an opinion of value
Full transcript of the video
Complete transcript of the video above (translated from French). Published on September 25, 2026.
Hello. There are the documents every sale requires. And there are the ones your situation adds — and those, no one names for you ahead of time.
My name is Ernso Cléus. I’m a residential and commercial real estate broker at RE/MAX Crystal.
A condo, a rented unit, an estate, a well, a septic system, a pool. Each one comes with its own file and its own lead time.
The documents every sale requires — certificate of location, permits, invoices, taxes — are or will be the subject of a separate video on my channel.
I won’t give you any legal advice. For what a document means in your situation, that’s a notary.
Selling a property occupied by a tenant
A property occupied by a tenant adds its own stack of documents. A plex, a basement unit, a rented house. The sale is still possible — it’s the documents and the lead times that change.
What the buyer and their lender will want to see. The written lease, with the names and the dates. The notices of lease renewal or rent change sent over the years. Proof of the rents actually collected. And the notices exchanged with the tenant, whatever they are.
One point many owners discover too late: in Quebec, the lease follows the dwelling, not the owner. The buyer becomes the new landlord, on the terms already in place.
And the tenant’s rights during a sale — the showings, the notices, the lead times — are regulated. It’s not something you improvise.
The Tribunal administratif du logement, Quebec’s housing tribunal, publishes the information, and a lawyer or a notary answers specific cases. What I’m telling you is to pull out the leases and the notices before, not during.
The condo case
In a condo, the list of documents isn’t the same as for a single-family house.
If you own a unit in a divided co-ownership, some of the documents aren’t in your home. They’re with the syndicate of co-owners, or with the property manager.
What you ask the syndicate for: the declaration of co-ownership and its amendments, the minutes of the most recent meetings, the financial statements, the current budget, the information on the contingency fund, including the contingency fund study, and the building’s insurance.
The syndicate has its own procedure and its own lead time. A request made early is a request that has time to come through.
What these documents say about your rights, your obligations or what’s coming up in the building is a legal reading. It belongs to a notary.
My part is to tell you where to request them — and to do it before you have a date in mind.
Estate, undivided co-ownership and protection mandate
Sometimes a house doesn’t simply belong to one person who decides alone. An estate. Undivided co-ownership among several owners. A person represented under a protection mandate.
In these situations, the first conversation isn’t with a broker. It’s with a notary.
Why. Because what needs to be known — who can sign, with which documents and under which procedure — is a legal question. It gets settled at the start, not along the way.
What you can start gathering in the meantime: what your notary will ask you for. The notary is the one who will tell you which papers are needed in your situation. I don’t draw up that list in their place.
I won’t tell you anything more about the content of these documents: the notary is the one who reads them.
What I can tell you is that these steps have their own timeline, and that timeline isn’t yours. That’s a reason to start early.
The well, the septic system and the pool
Three pieces of equipment come with their own paperwork, and they hold up a sale more often than you’d think.
The well. The buyer and their lender will want a recent water analysis, done by an accredited laboratory. Also pull out the drilling report if you have it, and the pump maintenance invoices.
The septic system. There’s an installation permit issued by the municipality, and often a certificate of compliance produced at the time of the work. The requirements are set by your municipality — so that’s where the question gets asked.
The pool. The provincial regulation on residential swimming pool safety has been in force since 2021. Pools installed before November 1, 2010 have until September 30, 2027 to comply — a deadline already pushed back once. If your pool predates 2010, it’s a question a buyer may ask. Pull out the permit, the installation invoice, and any notice received from your town.
In all three cases, the approach is the same: a call to your municipality, and a written request. These documents are requested ahead of time, not when an offer is on the table.
Energy statements and insurance documents
That leaves the energy consumption statements and the insurance documents. Two different files, two different suppliers, and you’re the one who requests both.
The energy statements, first. Electricity, gas, heating oil, propane, delivered firewood. Most suppliers give access to your consumption history in your online customer account. You pull the last twelve months and print them.
A buyer often asks the question. A documented answer isn’t the same thing as an estimate from memory.
Home insurance, next. You pull out the current policy, and the endorsements if there are any. You also note past claims, with the year and what was done.
One useful thing to know: your insurer holds that history. You can ask them for a statement of your claims. What you can obtain, and in what form, your insurer will tell you.
What your policy covers or doesn’t cover, and what a past claim implies, is a question for your insurer or your insurance broker. That’s their job. It isn’t mine.
The expert reports already in hand
You may already have expert reports in hand. An engineer’s report, a roofer’s report, a laboratory result.
Many owners have one in a box and no longer think about it, because the document is old.
An old report is still a written document, signed and dated by the person who produced it, with their name on it. A memory isn’t. Between the two, the one that carries a date and a signature is worth more.
So you pull them out. All of them. Even the one you’d put away without rereading it.
Two things to note on each: the date, and the name of the professional who signed it.
A report says nothing about the condition today. A document from 2018 describes 2018.
The only person who can speak to the current condition is the professional in the field concerned. A structural engineer, a roofer, an accredited laboratory, depending on the subject.
Each of these documents comes from a third party, and none of these lead times belongs to you. That’s the only reason we start there.
Before gathering anything, a seller’s first question is still the value of their property. I produce a value report: the comparable sales in your area, the features that matter, and what I take from them. And I also offer a marketing plan for your property. Request it through the links below the video.
If you’re already bound by a brokerage contract with another broker, this invitation isn’t for you.
For an estate, undivided co-ownership, a protection mandate or a lease, a notary is the one who answers.
Ernso Cléus, residential and commercial real estate broker, RE/MAX Crystal. Your broker who knows buildings.
Read also: selling your home with a broker · all the seller tips · get in touch
Ernso Cléus, residential and commercial real estate broker — RE/MAX Crystal. Your broker who knows buildings.
