Quebec real estate glossary · French to English
Offre d'achat = Offer to purchase. Offer to purchase is the everyday English. On a Quebec brokerage form, the same document is called a promise to purchase.
En bref, en français : « Offre d'achat » se dit offer to purchase. Attention : sur le formulaire officiel de l'OACIQ, le document s'appelle « promesse d'achat », soit promise to purchase en anglais.
Buyers arriving from Ontario or from abroad look for an "offer to purchase", because that is the phrase used almost everywhere else in Canada. In Quebec the regulated brokerage form carries a different name: the OACIQ publishes it in English as the Promise to purchase.
Educaloi, writing for the public in English, does use "offer to purchase", including in its capsule on cancelling one. So both phrases circulate, and both point to the same step in the transaction.
What actually changes
Nothing about your rights depends on which of the two words you use in conversation. What matters is the form you sign and the conditions written into it. If a broker is involved, that form is the OACIQ one.
Sequence, in plain English
- You sign a promise to purchase, with conditions.
- The seller accepts, refuses, or answers with a counter-proposal.
- Conditions are cleared: financing, inspection, review of the certificate of location.
- A notary draws up the deed of sale and the transfer happens.
Say it in a sentence
The word on its own is rarely the problem. These are the sentences you will actually hear, and what they become in English.
| Vous entendrez | In English |
|---|---|
| Nous avons reçu trois offres d'achat. | We received three offers to purchase. |
| L'offre est valide jusqu'à demain 17 h. | The offer is valid until 5 p.m. tomorrow. |
| Il a retiré son offre avant l'acceptation. | He withdrew his offer before acceptance. |
The mistake we see most often
The mistake is searching in English and concluding the document does not exist. Buyers look for an offer to purchase, find that Quebec brokers work with something called a promise to purchase, and assume it is a different or lesser document. It is the same step, on a regulated form that exists in English. Ask for the English version of the form and read it before you sign anything.
Where this fits in a Quebec transaction
Buying or selling in Quebec means signing documents that exist in both languages, written under civil law rather than common law. A word-for-word translation is sometimes right and sometimes actively misleading. The full list is in our Quebec real estate glossary, French to English.
Related terms
- the promesse d'achat, explained
- promise to purchase in English
- real estate broker in English
- talk to a broker
Questions we get asked
Is an offer to purchase the same as a promesse d'achat?
In practice yes. The regulated Quebec form is called the promise to purchase in English, while offer to purchase is the phrase most people use in conversation.
Can I cancel an offer to purchase in Quebec?
It depends on whether it has been accepted and on the conditions written into it. This is exactly the kind of question to put to your broker or notary before signing, not after.
Who writes the offer?
When a broker represents you, the broker fills in the mandatory OACIQ form with you. The form is standard across Quebec.
Published by the Loaa & Manseur team, number one team at RE/MAX Platine in 2024 and 2025. We work in French and in English. Tell us about your project.