You receive a promise to purchase in Québec: your options, deadlines and conditions

• Selling costs and proceeds at the notary

• Making an offer: promise to purchase, counter-proposals and the notary

The seller has three options when receiving an offer: accept it, refuse it or reply with a counter-proposal. Accepting the promise to purchase binds you to sell.

Once accepted, the promise binds both parties, subject to its conditions.

The form sets the date and time by which you must accept. If that deadline is not respected, the promise to purchase is cancelled. During this period, a buyer who changes their mind cannot withdraw the offer.

The Civil Code nevertheless gives the buyer a short cancellation window, from signing until the promise reaches the seller. A cancellation received before you accept voids the promise.

The accepted promise binds both parties, subject to its conditions. The buyer cannot assign their rights without the seller’s prior written consent.

If no deed of sale is signed because of the buyer’s fault, the buyer must compensate your broker. If it is the seller’s fault, the seller owes the buyer’s broker damages equal to the commission the buyer would have paid.

Inspection: a buyer may include an inspection within a set period or waive it. The buyer’s broker should recommend an inspection.

Documents: the offer may provide for review of listed documents within a set number of days.

Financing: if the buyer does not prove the mortgage within the set period, the seller may require a new application with specified terms or void the promise.

Defects: after written notice of a defect not disclosed in the seller’s declarations, the seller has 21 days to say whether they will remedy it. If not, the buyer is not obliged to proceed.

• Pre-purchase inspection and broker duties
• Seller declarations and disclosure duties

The buyer’s broker may propose a deposit; the OACIQ page says the broker should recommend a reasonable one. After acceptance, it goes into the broker’s or agency’s trust account without delay.

The clause may make the deposit payable once conditions are met. A seller may ask for earlier payment as part of negotiation.

If the promise becomes null, the buyer gets the deposit back. Otherwise it is handled under the promise or the trust rules of the Real Estate Brokerage Act. It can sometimes be held in a notary’s trust account or paid to a developer in new construction.

The real estate agent (broker) uses OACIQ promise-to-purchase forms. The broker presents multiple offers to the seller as soon as possible and informs other brokers of a new offer without disclosing its content.

The broker must be loyal and must not disclose the seller’s confidential or strategic information to the buyer. They verify each party’s identity with authorized ID, make sure the seller understands the time frames and follow up on them.

For new or on-plan construction, a preliminary contract is used instead of a promise to purchase.

Thomas applies these steps with his sellers. This is a statement of practice, not a promise of an outcome.

• Brokerage contracts: term, cancellation and cooling-off right