In Quebec, only one warranty is mandatory for a new home: the guarantee plan for new residential buildings (Plan de garantie des bâtiments résidentiels neufs), administered by Garantie de construction résidentielle (GCR). It covers houses and small buildings. It does not cover condo towers with more than four stacked units: for those, protection against defects depends on the plan the developer chose to take out, or on the lack of one. Your deposit, however, must be protected in every case.
Of the 102 for-sale projects listed on Homz as of October 6, 2026, 33 state a warranty plan on their listing: 25 GCR, 4 the ACQ Résidentiel plan and 4 the Maîtres Bâtisseurs plan. The other 69 state none.
An empty field does not mean the project has no warranty. It means the developer has not told us. That makes it the first question to ask, and the answer belongs in writing in your preliminary contract.
Who does the mandatory plan cover?
The plan covers three kinds of homes: detached, semi-detached and row single-family houses; duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes and fiveplexes not held in divided co-ownership; and condos with no more than four stacked private units. It has been mandatory since 1999, and GCR has administered it since January 1, 2015. For it to apply, the contractor must hold a licence from the Régie du bâtiment du Québec (RBQ), the province's building authority, and be accredited by GCR.
Among our for-sale projects, 17 of 50 house projects and 8 of 52 condo projects declare GCR.
What counts is how the units are stacked, not how big the project is. A row of forty townhouses can be covered unit by unit; a tower where more than four condos sit on top of each other is not. Before you compare two projects on price, check which side of that line each one falls on.
What the plan protects, and for how long
According to the plan guide published by the RBQ, your deposits are protected up to $50,000. For completing the work and repairing defects in a house or a condo, the ceiling is $300,000, all claims combined: you cannot claim $300,000 for completion and another $300,000 for something else.
| What is covered | Until when |
|---|---|
| Apparent defects and poor workmanship | to be reported in writing at acceptance, or within three days if you have not moved in yet |
| Non-apparent poor workmanship | discovered within one year of acceptance |
| Latent defects | discovered within three years of acceptance |
| Design, construction or execution defects, and soil defects | discovered within five years of the end of the work |
| Relocation, moving, storage | written claim to the contractor within six months of acceptance |
The deadline that catches people is the one for non-apparent poor workmanship: one year, not three. And finding a problem is not enough; you have to report it in writing within a reasonable time, which most arbitrators and courts put at under six months. A crack that shows up in the first winter gets written to the contractor right away; waiting to see whether it grows is how claims arrive too late.
In a condo, keep one more date in mind: the five-year protection against design and construction defects runs from the end of work on the common areas, not from the day you get your keys. Buy a year after that work ended and you have four years left.
The plan's inspections are tightening
GCR's 2025-2029 inspection plan raises the minimum from one to three inspections per unit by 2029, including a mandatory one before the walls are closed, the last moment when wiring, plumbing and insulation are still visible. The number of inspections still depends on the contractor's rating: a poorly rated contractor is inspected more often.
It is real progress, but the Association de la construction du Québec says it plainly: this system does not guarantee a buyer that their own home was inspected. The inspection that protects your unit is the pre-acceptance inspection: that is where you report in writing whatever is apparent, and it is best done with someone who works for you.
Condo towers: outside the plan, but soon under supervision
A condo building with more than four stacked units is not covered by the mandatory plan. Some developers take out an optional plan instead; others take out none. Two optional plans show up on our listings, and they cover neither the same things nor for the same length of time.
| According to the plan's website | ACQ Résidentiel, “Qualité Condo” | GHMB (Maîtres Bâtisseurs) |
|---|---|---|
| Deposits | 100% of the deposits set out in the warranty contract | protected “according to the contract in force” |
| Completion and apparent defects | claimed no later than six months after taking possession | covered |
| Latent defects | three years after taking possession | one year after acceptance |
| Design or construction defects | five years after taking possession | five years after taking possession |
The GHMB plan is limited to towers with more than four stacked units and to contractors it accredits. The ACQ Résidentiel plan also covers the common areas and stays with the condo if it is resold.
One year or three years for a latent defect is not a detail. Ask for the warranty contract itself, not just the name of the plan: the contract is what counts.
Things are moving, though. An act adopted in November 2024 to improve construction quality and public safety (Loi visant principalement à accroître la qualité de la construction et la sécurité du public) led to a draft regulation published in the Gazette officielle on May 13, 2026. It targets precisely the new homes that fall outside the warranty plan: the project owner will have to hire an engineer, an architect or a professional technologist for a supervision plan, inspections at key stages and a certificate of compliance. When we checked, on October 4, 2026, no date of entry into force had been announced.
A certificate of compliance is not a warranty. In what the RBQ has published, the draft regulation deals with the quality of the work, not with your deposits. For deposits in a tower, the next section is the one that matters.
What the new condo rules change for you
The Civil Code requires that any deposit paid to a builder or developer for a new condo be fully protected, by a warranty plan, insurance, a surety bond or a deposit into a trust account (art. 1791.1). The regulation stemming from Bill 16, in force since August 14, 2025, set out how this works and added rules that directly affect buyers.
If your deposit goes into a trust account, only members of four professional orders can hold it: the Barreau du Québec, the Chambre des notaires, the Ordre des administrateurs agréés and the Ordre des comptables professionnels agréés. You, and only you, hand it to the professional: the developer is not allowed to do it for you.
The developer must refund your deposits if the condo is not delivered on the date agreed in the preliminary contract. If the contract gives a period, such as “fall”, the date that counts is the last day of that period. To change the date, the contract has to be amended and signed again by both parties.
While the building is under construction and the first contingency fund study does not yet exist, contributions to that fund must equal 0.5% of the building's reconstruction value. The developer then hands the maintenance log and the contingency fund study to the syndicate within 30 days of the transition meeting.
In a tower outside the warranty plan, ask which of the four means protects your deposit, and up to what amount. If it is a trust account and someone offers to “take care of it” for you, the answer is no. And since the contingency fund study helps set part of the condo fees, ask when the first one will be produced: the fees quoted at signing do not reflect it yet.
What the Civil Code guarantees you, with or without a plan
A warranty plan comes on top of the law; it does not replace it. When a contractor or developer sells you a new home, the Civil Code applies to them the warranties of a contract of enterprise (art. 1794 and 2124). In practice:
- Poor workmanship that exists at acceptance, or is discovered within the following year, binds the contractor and the professionals who directed or supervised the work for one year (art. 2120).
- Loss of the building within five years of the end of the work, caused by a design, construction, execution or soil defect, makes the contractor, architect, engineer, technologist and subcontractor involved jointly and severally liable (art. 2118).
- Latent defects: the seller warrants that the property is free of them at the time of sale (art. 1726).
- At acceptance, you may hold back from the price an amount sufficient to cover the apparent defects and poor workmanship you reported, until they are corrected (art. 2111).
- Before construction even starts, the preliminary contract must give you ten days to withdraw (art. 1785), and buying a condo comes with an information notice (art. 1787).
One rule runs through all of it: a defect must be reported in writing, within a reasonable time after it is discovered (art. 1739). It is the same discipline the warranty plan asks for, and it is the one most often lost.
Questions to ask before you sign
- Is the project covered by the mandatory plan? If so, is the contractor accredited by GCR, and do they hold an RBQ licence?
- If not, which optional plan covers it? And how much of your deposit is protected, in dollars?
- How is your deposit protected? For a condo, the law requires a warranty plan, insurance, a surety bond or a trust account. With a trust account, you pay it yourself to the notary, lawyer, chartered administrator or CPA.
- Which delivery date is written in the preliminary contract? That date is what gives you the right to a refund if it is missed.
- In a condo, when will work on the common areas be finished? That date starts the five-year clock.
- Is the warranty plan named in the preliminary contract? A verbal promise protects nothing.
Sources
- Régie du bâtiment du Québec, Plan de garantie des bâtiments résidentiels neufs, consulted October 4, 2026 (in French).
- Régie du bâtiment du Québec, Lecture obligatoire pour adultes avertis — condo, warranty plan guide, 2017 edition (in French).
- Régie du bâtiment du Québec, Surveillance des travaux de construction: projet de règlement publié pour commentaires, May 13, 2026 (in French).
- Gouvernement du Québec, Mesures applicables aux copropriétés divises, updated May 22, 2026 (in French).
- Association de la construction du Québec, GCR's 2025-2029 inspection plan, August 2024 (in French).
- ACQ Résidentiel, Garantie Qualité Condo, consulted October 6, 2026 (in French).
- La Garantie Habitation des Maîtres Bâtisseurs (GHMB), Consommateur, consulted October 6, 2026 (in French).
- Civil Code of Québec, art. 1726, 1739, 1785, 1787, 1791.1, 1794, 2111, 2118, 2120 and 2124, LégisQuébec, consulted October 6, 2026.
- Homz, warranty plans declared by developers on for-sale project listings, as of October 6, 2026.