Plan de garantie

Guarantee Plan

For New Residential Buildings

This content in English is intended for individuals covered by the exceptions to the Charter of the French language and its regulations.

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  3. Exclusions from the Guarantee Plan

Exclusions from the Guarantee Plan

What’s not covered

Here are some examples of what is not covered by the Guarantee Plan:

  • Repairs to defects in the materials and equipment that you supply and install
  • Repairs made necessary by normal behaviour of materials (such as shrinkage cracks) or by normal wear and tear
  • Repairs made necessary by circumstances for which you are at fault, such as inadequate maintenance or misuse of the building, and those resulting from alterations, deletions or additions that you have made
  • Costs of relocation, moving or storage of your property, and repairs made necessary following an external event of extreme proportions or out of your control (earthquake, flood, exceptional climatic conditions, strike or lock-out)
  • Repairs to damage resulting from the contractor's extra-contractual civil liability
  • Repairs to damage resulting from contaminated soil, including replacement of the soil itself
  • The obligation of a public utility to supply the building with natural gas or electricity
  • Parking areas or storage rooms located outside the building containing the dwelling units, and any works outside the building, such as swimming pools, landscaping, sidewalks, driveways or surface water drainage, with the exception of the descending slope of the lot, which is covered
  • Promises of a vendor concerning costs for use or energy consumption of appliances, systems or equipment included in the construction of a building
  • Claims from the persons who contributed to the construction of the building

Watch out for legal mortgages!

New home or condo guarantees do not cover legal mortgages! You must therefore be very careful when you make payments to the contractor and make certain you are protected.

The Civil Code of Québec grants special status to debts owed to parties that have participated in the construction of a building (workers, contractors, subcontractors, materials suppliers, engineers, architects). These debts can lead to legal mortgages.

A legal mortgage allows, for example, a subcontractor who was not paid by the general contractor to claim the amount due to him from you, even if you paid your contractor in full. If not paid, the subcontractor can apply for a mortgage on your house, becoming a second owner, but he can even demand for the sale of the home.

To do so, the creditor must follow the requirements of the article 2727 of the civil CodeThis link leaves Guarantee Plan for New Residential Buildings Website., and, particularly, publish a notice of legal mortgage before the 30th day following the end of work.

Legal mortgages: how to protect yourself

Obviously, it is difficult to ensure that your contractor will pay all of their employees, subcontractors, and materials suppliers. The Civil Code of Québec does, however, contain clauses that allow you to reduce the risk of being confronted with legal mortgages.

Among other things, you can ask the contractor for a complete list of their employees, subcontractors, and materials suppliers. As article 2122 of the Civil CodeThis link leaves Guarantee Plan for New Residential Buildings Website. states, while the contractor may require partial payments for the value of the work performed and the materials needed, before doing so, they are required to furnish you with a statement of the amounts paid to subcontractors and materials suppliers and the amounts still owing to them.

You can then, pursuant to article 2123 of the Civil CodeThis link leaves Guarantee Plan for New Residential Buildings Website., instruct your notary to withhold the amounts needed to cover any potential legal mortgages until you have been assured that all of the employees, subcontractors, and materials suppliers have been paid in full.

If, after taking these steps with your contractor, you are concerned about finding yourself in such a situation, the best idea is to consult a lawyer.