Inspection Condition in Quebec: Your Notice Can Void the Promise, Negotiate With Amendments

The inspection found defects. Many buyers' reflex is to send the report to the seller and ask for a lower price. That is often the wrong tool. In many Quebec promises to purchase, the notice provided for in the inspection clause, sent with the report, does not start a negotiation: it ends the promise. Here is how to read your clause, and how to negotiate without losing the house.

What the inspection clause usually provides

The inspection condition in a promise to purchase sets two deadlines: one to have the property inspected, another to notify the seller if the result is unsatisfactory. The wording states what that notice does. In many promises, a written notice sent with a copy of the report makes the promise null as soon as the seller receives it.

The flip side matters just as much: if no notice is sent within the deadline, the buyer is deemed to have waived the condition, and is bound to buy, defects included.

Every promise must be read on its own terms: deadlines, cut-off time, effect of the notice. Have your broker review the clause before you do anything with the report.

Why the notice is not a request for a price cut

If the notice voids the promise, sending it in the hope of a counter-offer simply releases the seller, who can accept another offer the next day. You can still come back with a new, lower offer, but you present it with no promise in force, possibly against competing buyers.

The notice remains the right tool when you truly want out. To stay in the deal on different terms, you need a different tool.

Negotiating with an amendments form

To change an accepted promise to purchase, the parties sign an amendments form. The two most common post-inspection requests go through it:

• A price reduction, backed by the report and ideally by one or more contractor quotes that put a cost on the work.
• An extension of the inspection condition deadline, to allow time to get those quotes, to a specific date and time.

An amendment only counts if the seller accepts it in writing before the relevant deadline. A phone agreement extends nothing. If the deadline passes with no accepted amendment and no notice, the condition is deemed waived.

The timeline that protects the buyer

• Inspection day: note the exact cut-off time for the notice in your promise.
• Within hours: your broker shares the findings with the seller's broker and may show the report for information to support the discussion.
• Before the deadline: an amendments form signed by you, with the price reduction or extension requested, is presented to the seller.
• If the seller refuses: you still choose, before the deadline, between waiving the condition and buying as is, or sending the notice and walking away.

Back the request with numbers

A price-cut request is more convincing when it rests on amounts. A contractor's quote, even a budget estimate, turns an impression into a cost. Asking for part of the cost rather than all of it is often defensible: some work is normal upkeep for a house of that age. Our article on negotiating after an inspection compares a price cut, a seller repair and a holdback at the notary.