Selling · Certificate of location · Laval
Six sectors, two rivers and 821 houses for sale: in Laval, the certificate answers the buyer's first question. Here is what the surveyor checks, what it costs and when to order it.
In Laval, 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). The seller provides it at their expense if it is outdated or inaccurate. Laval has 821 houses active and sells in 30 days: the certificate ready before listing is an argument. The 1960s to 1980s bungalows of Chomedey, Fabreville and Vimont have the pools and sheds added since; the waterfront of Sainte-Dorothée, Sainte-Rose and Saint-François has the shoreline and the flood zone to document; the recent homes have a builder's certificate outdated by the additions. Count $1,200 to $2,500 and 4 to 8 weeks.
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the seller to provide, at their expense, a certificate that reflects the current state of the premises; if it is outdated or inaccurate, the new one is on the seller.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.
Laval (a $633,500 median in the second quarter of 2026, 30 days, 821 houses active) is an island between two rivers, and the certificate of location has three jobs there. Along the Rivière des Prairies (Sainte-Dorothée, Laval-Ouest, Saint-François) and the Rivière des Mille Îles (Sainte-Rose, Auteuil, Saint-François), the surveyor places the property against the high-water line, the shoreline and the flood zones revised after 2017 and 2019: the insurer, the lender and the buyer ask for that document first, and a waterfront home in Sainte-Dorothée above $1.12 million, where the buyer leads, does not sell without a recent certificate. In the 1960s to 1980s bungalow and semi-detached streets of Chomedey, Fabreville, Vimont and Duvernay, the in-ground pool, the shed, the closed carport and the extension added since make the original certificate outdated, and the party fences of semi-detached homes are checked against the City's setbacks. In the recent sectors near the metro and the REM, the builder's certificate delivered ten years ago shows neither the pool nor the terrace. Near the 15, the 440 and the hydro lines, servitudes of public utilities appear on the certificate. With 821 competing houses, the seller whose certificate is ready before listing removes a condition that the others still carry.
| Laval (QPAREB, Q2 2026) | Median | 1 year | 5 years | Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single-family | $633,500 | 4% | 36 % | 30 |
| Condo | $428,000 | 3% | 37 % | 55 |
A certificate of location stops being "current" as soon as something is added to the lot. Yet in Laval, of the 300 houses sold on Centris between September 16, 2025 and September 16, 2026, 36% had a pool and 59% a garage: together with the shed, the fence and the extension, these are the most frequent additions that make the original certificate obsolete. And 44% of these houses were built before 1980: if their last certificate dates from the previous purchase, it is often more than ten years old, the limit notaries and lenders apply in practice.
| Addition | Share of houses sold | Median price with | Median price without |
|---|---|---|---|
| A pool | 36% | $695,000 | $585,000 |
| A garage | 59% | $700,000 | $545,000 |
Source: Centris (Matrix), single-family sales closed between September 16, 2025 and September 16, 2026, up to 300 per city, aggregates only. The pool and the garage also raise the price; the detail is in our page on what a pool and a garage are worth in Laval. For the certificate, the consequence is simple: if one of these was added since the surveyor's last report, a new one is needed, and the seller pays for it.
On 500 sales in Laval in 12 months, the median time between listing and acceptance is 14 days (half of the sales close between 6 and 41 days). A sale that goes above the asking price closes in 6 days; a sale below asking in 24 days, and that is the case for 67% of transactions, with a median discount of $19,900 (2.8%). A certificate ordered after acceptance adds four to eight weeks to that calendar, and a lingering "subject to the certificate" condition gives the buyer a reason to renegotiate.
The other figure to know: in Laval, 33% of the listings that ended in 12 months were withdrawn, expired or cancelled without a sale (1,244 against 2,529 sold), and the withdrawn ones asked 1.5% more than the sold ones. The certificate is not the first cause, the price is; but an incomplete file stretches the delay, and the delay ends up costing the price. The detail is in how much people really negotiate in Laval and the houses that do not sell in Laval.
The median sale price of a house in Laval is $623,950. A new certificate costs $1,200 to $2,500 depending on the property, or 0.2% to 0.4% of the price. The median discount granted by sellers who accept below asking is $19,900, and a missing certificate is exactly the kind of argument a buyer uses to get it. Ordering the certificate before listing, when it is outdated or inaccurate, therefore costs less than discovering it at the offer: that is the rule the team applies on every sale mandate in Laval.
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.
Our other data series for Laval, drawn from Centris listings:
Each page is recalculated from the past year's actual sales, aggregates only.
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.