Selling · Certificate of location · Lachine
In Lachine, the 1910 house has a gallery on the neighbour's lot and a right of way nobody wrote down. Here is what the surveyor checks, what it costs and when to order it.
In Lachine, the certificate of location is the document the notary and the lender require to close a sale: prepared by a land surveyor, it describes the current state of the premises (boundaries, buildings, servitudes, encroachments, compliance with by-laws). The seller provides it at their expense if it is outdated or inaccurate; the law sets no expiry date, but notaries and lenders in practice require a certificate of about ten years at most, with no change since. Lachine's particularity is the age of its housing: in Vieux-Lachine and along the canal, homes over a hundred years old sit on irregular lots where porch, gallery and fence encroachments on the neighbour are frequent and where servitudes (rights of way, Hydro, the canal) must be recorded; the 1950s to 1970s bungalows of the west and Saint-Pierre add the usual pools and sheds. Count $1,200 to $2,500 and 4 to 8 weeks, more for a large rural lot that needs staking.
It is the land surveyor's report describing the current state of the property: lot boundaries, position of the buildings, servitudes, encroachments and compliance with by-laws. In a sale, the standard rule of the brokerage forms (clause 10.1) requires the seller to provide, at their expense, a certificate that reflects the current state of the premises; if it is outdated or inaccurate, the new one is on the seller. The law gives it no expiry date: the test is accuracy, but notaries and lenders in practice require a certificate of at most about ten years with no change since (pool, shed, extension, fence, cadastral renovation). The full detail is on our page certificate of location in Quebec.
Lachine (QPAREB's Lachine/LaSalle sector, a 730 000 $ median house in the second quarter of 2026, 42 days) has one of the oldest built environments on the island. Vieux-Lachine, between the canal and Lac Saint-Louis, sells homes from 1880 to 1930 on lots that were never regular: galleries, sheds, hedges and shared walls encroach on the neighbour or the public right of way, and rights of way to rear yards, Hydro-Québec servitudes and the federal canal servitude must all be recorded. The 1950s to 1970s streets of the west and of Saint-Pierre sell bungalows and duplexes extended with pools, garages and sheds whose setbacks the surveyor checks. Along the lake and the canal, the shoreline strip and the flood zones mapped appear on the certificate. On an old lot in Vieux-Lachine, staking is often needed on top of the certificate, which pushes the cost above $2,500 and the delay past eight weeks. See real estate broker in Lachine.
| Lachine/Lasalle (QPAREB, Q2 2026) | Median | 1 year | 5 years | Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single-family | $730,000 | 1% | 26 % | 42 |
| Condo | $420,000 | -7 % | 19 % | 53 |
In Lachine, the income property is the transaction where the certificate matters most: the surveyor's report confirms the number of dwellings and their position, which the lender checks before financing. On the 92 plexes sold on Centris between September 16, 2025 and September 16, 2026, the median building has 2 units and trades at $294,750 per door, with a gross rent multiplier of 16,2. A unit added in the basement or a garage since the last certificate is not an extra door in the notary's eyes until the certificate and the zoning say so. The full figures are in plex prices in Lachine.
The ten-year rule is written nowhere, but it shows in the figures. In Lachine, the median single-family home sold for $370,000 in 2016 and $722,500 in 2026, 95% more. An owner who bought in 2016 sells today with a ten-year-old certificate, exactly the limit most notaries and lenders refuse to exceed, and often with a pool, a fence or an extension added since. On 1,675 house sales in ten years in the sector, a large share therefore reaches the notary's table with a certificate to redo. The full curve is in home prices in Lachine from 2016 to 2026.
Count generally $1,200 to $2,500 depending on the property and the region, and above all 4 to 8 weeks of delay. That is the number one reason we ask our sellers to order it as soon as they decide to sell, not at the promise to purchase: a certificate that arrives late delays the notary, and a certificate that reveals an encroachment at the last minute derails the sale. The shed on the neighbour's line or the pool too close to the boundary are discovered here, not after signing.
If it is less than about ten years old AND nothing has changed (no construction, extension, pool, fence, cadastral operation or new by-law), it generally passes with the notary and the lender. Otherwise, plan on a new certificate.
The seller, under the standard clause of the brokerage forms, if theirs is outdated or inaccurate. If their certificate reflects the current state of the premises and the buyer or their lender demands a new one anyway, it is on the buyer.
4 to 8 weeks in 2026 depending on the workload of the region's land surveyors. Order it as soon as you decide to sell.
Also available in French: version française de ce guide.
Published September 7, 2026 by the Loaa & Manseur team, the number 1 team at RE/MAX Platine in 2024 and 2025, 6th RE/MAX team in Quebec, 15th in Canada and in the global top 50 according to the official RE/MAX ranking. Tell us about your project.
Équipe no 1 de RE/MAX Platine en 2024 et en 2025, 6e au Québec, 15e au Canada et dans le top 50 mondial au classement officiel RE/MAX. Réponse en moins de 24 heures, sept jours sur sept.