Claire Tremblay, Canada contributor

Covers Canada's private home-sale process province by province, working from primary sources. The focus is on what changes across jurisdictions: Quebec's civil-law closing, where a notaire drafts the authentic act of sale and enters it in the registre foncier, and the land transfer tax that the buyer pays at provincial rates that catch people off guard.

Closing a private home sale in Canada is not one process but thirteen, and Quebec is where the gap is widest. The province runs on civil law at almost every turn, and little of it lines up with how a sale works elsewhere in the country. A notaire rather than a lawyer, civil-law disclosure obligations, the registre foncier: none of these appear in the generic guides written for an anglophone seller in Ontario.

For that reason the Canada material is kept province by province rather than collapsed into a single national answer. Where British Columbia and Quebec handle a step differently, the guide spells out both. And where provinces genuinely agree, such as the buyer covering land transfer tax or the principal residence exemption on capital gains, the common ground is noted as well. A recurring point of confusion is who pays the land transfer tax: it falls to the buyer, not the seller, though provincial rates differ enough that buyers often arrive with the wrong figure in mind.

Want to write or fact-check for us?

We are always glad to hear from experienced writers, editors, and local property experts who care about getting the facts right. If you would like to contribute to or review for BestFSBOGuide.com, send a note about your background and the markets you know to editors@bestfsboguide.com.