Loi 16, and what it asks of your syndicate
Since 2019, the Civil Code of Québec has asked more of syndicates of co-owners: a register kept at the disposal of the co-owners, a contingency fund set in the light of a study, a maintenance logbook, insurance appraised again. Savoir answers your co-owners’ questions out of those documents, and cites the article when the question is about the obligation itself.
What the law asks of a syndicate
Four obligations of the Civil Code, in a board’s own words. The articles this page quotes are further down.
- A register at the disposal of the co-ownersArticle 1070 gives the list: minutes, financial statements, the declaration, the plans of the immovable as built, the maintenance logbook, the contingency fund study. That list is what a co-owner asks to consult, and rarely at the moment that suits the board.
- A contingency fund, and the study behind itArticle 1071 keeps the fund for major repairs and the replacement of the common portions, and wants the amounts paid into it set in the light of the study’s recommendations. The question that follows is always the same: why has my contribution gone up.
- A maintenance logbook for the immovableIt is one of the documents article 1070 names. Uploaded to Savoir, a question about the roof or the elevator finds the section that covers it, with its page, instead of an answer from memory.
- Insurance, and how the deductibles are recoveredArticle 1073 asks for insurance on the whole of the immovable, for an amount that covers its reconstruction and is evaluated at least every five years. Article 1074.2 says the sums the syndicate spends on the deductibles and on repairing the insured property are recovered from the co-owners only through their contribution for common expenses, subject to the damages it can obtain from a co-owner in the cases the article sets out.
The articles Savoir cites
The official text of the four articles, in the language you are reading, with the day a person last read them against LégisQuébec and the link to go there yourself.
Civil Code of Québec — article 1070
The co-ownership register
Among the registers of the co-ownership, the syndicate keeps at the disposal of the co-owners a register containing the name and mailing address of each co-owner; the register may also contain other personal information concerning a co-owner or another occupant of the immovable if he expressly consents to it. In addition, the register contains the minutes of the meetings of the co-owners and of the board of directors, the resolutions in writing, the by-laws of the immovable and any amendments to them, and the financial statements. The register also contains the declaration of co-ownership, the copies of contracts to which the syndicate is a party, a copy of the cadastral plan, the plans and specifications of and location certificates for the building if they are available, the maintenance log, the contingency fund study and all other documents and information relating to the immovable and the syndicate or prescribed by government regulation. In addition, the register contains a description of the private portions that is sufficiently precise to allow any improvements made by co-owners to be identified. The same description may be valid for two or more portions having the same characteristics.
Text verified on October 17, 2026Read the official text
Civil Code of Québec — article 1071
The contingency fund and its study
The syndicate establishes, according to the estimated cost of major repairs and the cost of replacement of common portions, a contingency fund to be used exclusively for such repairs and replacement. The fund must be partly liquid and be available at short notice, and its capital must be guaranteed. The syndicate is the owner of the fund, and the fund’s use is determined by the board of directors. The board of directors obtains a contingency fund study establishing the sums necessary for the fund to be sufficient to cover the estimated cost of major repairs and of replacement of common portions. The study is conducted in accordance with the standards established by a government regulation, which designates among other things the professional orders whose members are authorized to conduct such studies and determines the intervals at which a new study must be obtained by the board of directors. The standards may vary according to the characteristics of an immovable. The sums to be paid into the contingency fund are fixed on the basis of the recommendations made in the contingency fund study and taking into account ongoing developments in the co-ownership, in particular the amounts available in the contingency fund. Until the developer obtains the contingency fund study, the sums to be paid into the fund must correspond to 0.5% of the reconstruction cost of the immovable.
Text verified on October 17, 2026Read the official text
Civil Code of Québec — article 1073
The syndicate's insurance
The syndicate has an insurable interest in the whole immovable, including the private portions. It shall take out insurance against ordinary risks providing for a reasonable deductible and covering the whole of the immovable, except improvements made by a co-owner to his portion, where they can be identified in relation to the description of that portion. The amount insured must cover the reconstruction of the immovable in accordance with the standards, usage and good practice applicable at that time; the amount must be evaluated at least every five years by a member of a professional order designated by government regulation. The syndicate shall also take out third person liability insurance for itself and for the members of its board of directors and the manager as well as for the president and the secretary of the general meeting of the co-owners and the other persons responsible for seeing to its proper conduct. The Government may, by regulation, determine cases in which a deductible is considered unreasonable. In addition, an insurance contract entered into by a syndicate covers, by operation of law, at least the risks prescribed by government regulation, unless the policy or a rider sets out, expressly and in clearly legible characters, which of those risks are excluded. The regulations may establish categories of buildings, in particular on the basis of their size, value or geographic location.
Text verified on October 17, 2026Read the official text
Civil Code of Québec — article 1074.2
Deductibles, recovered through common expenses
The sums incurred by the syndicate to pay the deductibles and make reparation for the injury caused to property in which the syndicate has an insurable interest may not be recovered from the co-owners otherwise than by their contribution for common expenses, subject to damages it can obtain from the co-owner bound to make reparation for the injury caused by the co-owner’s fault and, in the cases provided for in this Code, for the injury caused by the act, omission or fault of another person or by the act of things in the co-owner’s custody. Any stipulation which is inconsistent with the provisions of the first paragraph is deemed unwritten.
Text verified on October 17, 2026Read the official text
Information juridique, pas un avis juridique.Legal information, not legal advice.
A co-owner’s question about the fund
What a co-owner reads on their phone, sources included.
You
Can we repaint the lobby out of the contingency fund?
Assistant
No. The Civil Code keeps the contingency fund for major repairs and the replacement of the common portions, and painting the common areas is neither. The contingency fund study filed in March puts it under routine maintenance, and the declaration of co-ownership files those expenses under the general common expenses, paid out of the annual budget. The board can have the work done. It just cannot charge it to the fund.
According to your documents
- Contingency fund study, section 3
- Declaration of co-ownership, section 9.1
According to the law
- Civil Code of Québec, Art. 1071
Information juridique, pas un avis juridique.Legal information, not legal advice.
The law, shown apart from your documents
A member has to be able to tell at a glance what the syndicate wrote from what the Civil Code imposes.
- Your documents first, the law after themAn answer names the building’s documents first, then the articles it cited, in a frame of their own. When the law covers the question and your documents say nothing about it, the assistant says so instead of filling the gap.
- Legal information, not legal adviceThe line sits under every answer that leaned on the law, in French, whichever language it is read in. Savoir cites the Civil Code; it does not advise your syndicate and does not replace your notary.
- Articles read by a personEvery article is read by hand against the official text and carries the day of that check. The member who opens a citation sees the text, the date and the link to LégisQuébec, the same ones as on this page.
What it costs a syndicate
Four plans, by the number of registered members. Neither the size of the immovable, nor the number of documents, nor the number of articles cited counts. The trial asks for no card.
Check it against your own documents
Upload the declaration, the maintenance logbook and the latest fund study, then ask the question your board hears most often. The articles it cites will be these ones.