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 a deductible that is a common expenseArticle 1073 asks for insurance on the whole of the immovable, whose reconstruction value is appraised at least every five years. Article 1074.1 makes the deductible a common expense, wherever the loss occurred.
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
The syndicate keeps a register at the disposal of the co-owners containing their names and addresses and those of the lessees, the minutes of the meetings of the co-owners and of the board of directors, the financial statements, the declaration of co-ownership and the amendments made to it, the plans and specifications of the immovable as built, the maintenance logbook of the immovable and the contingency fund study, and any other document relating to the immovable and to the syndicate.
Text verified on September 6, 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 the common portions, a contingency fund that is liquid and available at short notice and is allotted solely to such repairs and replacement. The amounts paid into the fund are determined in the light of the recommendations of the contingency fund study. The fund is the property of the syndicate.
Text verified on September 6, 2026Read the official text
Civil Code of Québec — article 1073
The syndicate's insurance
The syndicate has an insurable interest in the whole of the immovable, including the private portions. It shall take out insurance against ordinary risks, such as fire and theft, covering the whole of the immovable, excluding improvements made by a co-owner to his private portion. The amount of that insurance corresponds to the reconstruction value of the immovable, which is appraised at least every five years by a member of a professional order.
Text verified on September 6, 2026Read the official text
Civil Code of Québec — article 1074.1
The deductible, a common expense
The amount of the deductible under the insurance taken out by the syndicate and the cost of repairing the property in which it has an insurable interest are common expenses, whether the loss occurred in a common portion or in a private portion.
Text verified on September 6, 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.