Fall and Winter Home Inspections in Quebec: What the Inspector Cannot See

Your promise to purchase (Quebec's term for an accepted offer) was accepted in November, the pre-purchase inspection is a few days away, and the forecast calls for snow. The inspector will do the job, but part of the house will be buried, frozen or shut down for the season. Those blind spots will not go away in spring: once the deed is signed at the notary's office, it is too late to raise them with the seller. This article covers what a late-fall or winter inspection cannot check, what it shows better than a summer one, and how to compensate before you waive the inspection condition.

A visual inspection, limited to what is accessible

A pre-purchase inspection is a visual examination. The inspector does not shovel a roof, dig into frozen ground or restart equipment that has been winterized. Whatever cannot be seen or operated is recorded as a limitation.

In Quebec, this work is now regulated. The Regulation respecting the regulation of residential building inspectors for inspections in the context of a real estate transaction has applied since October 1, 2024. Inspectors must follow standard BNQ 3009-500, Residential Building: Inspection Practices in a Real Estate Transaction Context, which governs among other things the form and mandatory content of the report. From October 1, 2027, they will need a certificate from the Régie du bâtiment du Québec, the provincial building authority.

The blind spots of a winter inspection

Depending on the date and the weather, several items may be partly or fully out of reach:

• The roof: under snow, shingles, flashing and vents are not visible. The inspector can describe the roof structure from the attic, not the condition of the covering.
• Grading and drainage: the slope of the ground toward the house, spring pooling and where downspouts discharge cannot be read on frozen, snow-covered ground.
• The exterior foundation: snow piled against the walls hides cracks and signs of water entry on the outside.
• Gutters: iced over or packed with snow, they show neither their slope nor how they drain.
• The pool and hot tub: closed for winter, their equipment cannot be run.
• Air conditioning and a heat pump in cooling mode: in deep cold, inspectors generally do not run a unit in cooling mode, to avoid damaging it.

What winter shows better than summer

Winter is not all downside. Some problems show up more clearly when it is cold outside and warm inside:

• Condensation on windows and in wall corners, a possible sign of poor ventilation or tired windows;
• Air leaks around doors, windows and outlets on exterior walls;
• Icicles and ice dams along the roof edge, often tied to heat escaping into the attic;
• Heating, running under real conditions: you can see whether every room heats and whether the system keeps up.

A winter inspection is not a failed inspection. It is a different one, and its limits need to be understood before you decide.

Read the limitations section of the report first

The part of the report that lists what was not inspected is often read last, when it should be read first. Every item there is an open question. How to read the rest of the report is covered in our article on the pre-purchase inspection report.

For each limitation, ask the same question: if this item is in poor shape, what would it cost, and who would pay? An unseen roof on a house whose covering is already getting on in years does not carry the same weight as a closed above-ground pool.

A second look in spring? Not after the deed

Coming back in spring to look at the roof sounds sensible, but it settles nothing once the deed of sale is signed. At that point you own the house, and a defect you find is no longer something to negotiate: it gets repaired, or pursued through a longer and less certain legal claim.

The only window in which a limitation can still be offset is the period before you waive the inspection condition. That is when to act.

Offsetting the blind spots before waiving the condition

Several steps can reduce the uncertainty the season leaves behind:

• Reread the seller's declaration (Quebec's mandatory seller disclosure form) for the uninspected items: roof age, past leaks, heat pump maintenance.
• Ask for photos of the roof, grounds and foundation taken in a snow-free season, if the seller has any.
• Ask for invoices for roof replacement, air conditioning service or drainage work.
• Bring in a specialist where the season allows, for example a roofer for an accessible section of the roof.
• Negotiate a holdback with the notary, tied to checking a specific item in spring, if the seller agrees.

The forms this negotiation can take, and what each commits you to, are covered in our article on negotiating after a home inspection. What matters here is the order: document every blind spot, then decide, before the condition's deadline runs out.