EXPERIENCING AN ELECTION IN A CO-OWNERSHIP

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LEGAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS TO AVOID CONFLICTS

The RGCQ is the leading authority when it comes to defending and promoting the rights of co-owners. It has partnered with the leading source of legal information on co-ownership, Condolegal.com, to provide Condoliaison readers with carefully selected content designed to simplify the day-to-day lives of co-ownership managers and co-owners throughout Quebec.

By Richard LeCouffe

Provincial elections will be held throughout Quebec on October 5 2026. We therefore thought it appropriate to point out that the rules governing candidates’ access to buildings and the display of election signs are not the same as those that apply during a federal election.

QUEBEC ELECTIONS

In fact, Quebec’s Election Act (CQLR, c. E-3.3) contains no provision requiring candidates or their representatives to be granted access to a building during an election campaign. Sections 259.1 and following of the Act deal only with election signs in public places, not on private property.

It should be noted, however, that with respect to residential leases, article 1935 of the Civil Code of Québec provides as follows:

“No lessor may prohibit access to an immovable or dwelling to a candidate in a provincial, federal, municipal or school election, an official delegate appointed by a national committee or the authorized representative of either for the purpose of election campaigning or a referendum under an Act.”

It could therefore be argued that where a unit in a co-ownership is leased, this provision applies. However, co-owners are bound by the declaration of co-ownership (article 1062 C.C.Q.) and, consequently, cannot grant their tenants more rights than they themselves possess. Moreover, the by-laws of the immovable may be set up against the lessee or occupant of a private portion once a copy has been provided to them, whether by the co-owner acting as lessor or by the syndicate (article 1057 C.C.Q.).

In fact, in a case involving a municipal election in which a candidate claimed that she had been denied access, including to a divided co-ownership (Bissonnette v. Venturelli et SDC Condominium Le Rive Gouin I, 2008 QCCS 5012), the judge specified that article 1935 C.C.Q. is essentially intended to prevent a lessor from denying a candidate access. The judge added that this does not mean that a candidate has unlimited access to the building or may enter it whenever and however they wish. The co-ownership’s internal rules governing access to the interior of the building remain applicable.

Accordingly, during a Quebec election campaign, in a divided co-ownership, the provisions of the declaration of co-ownership and the applicable by-laws govern both the display of signs, whether electoral or otherwise, and access to the building. There is no legal obligation to grant access to a candidate or their representative, unlike the situation during federal elections.

FEDERAL ELECTIONS

During a federal election, however, the situation is very different. The Canada Elections Act (S.C. 2000, c. 9) contains the following express provision:

“81 (1) No person who is in control of an apartment building, condominium building, other multiple-residence building or gated community shall prevent a candidate or their representative from, between 9:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m.,

(a) in the case of an apartment building, condominium building or gated community, canvassing at the doors to the apartments, units or houses, as the case may be; or

(b) in the case of a multiple-residence building, campaigning in a common area.

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply in respect of a person who is in control of a multiple-residence building if permitting the campaign activities referred to in that subsection may endanger the physical or emotional well-being of the residents of the building.”

Thus, during a federal election, candidates have greater freedom to campaign, and anyone who prevents a candidate or their representative from campaigning by accessing the doors of private portions would be committing an offence and could be subject to a fine.

It should be noted, however, that the right protected by section 81 is strictly the candidate’s freedom to communicate with the occupant. The occupant remains free not to answer the door or to refuse, politely, to listen to the candidate.

With respect to election advertising, the federal Act also provides as follows:

“322 (1) No landlord or person acting on their behalf may prohibit a tenant from displaying election advertising posters on the premises to which the lease relates and no condominium corporation or any of its agents may prohibit the owner of a condominium unit from displaying election advertising posters on the premises of their unit.

(2) Despite subsection (1), a landlord, condominium corporation or person acting on their behalf may set reasonable conditions relating to the size or type of election advertising posters that may be displayed on the premises and may prohibit the display of election advertising posters in common areas of the building in which the premises are found.”

As with candidates’ access to buildings, Quebec’s Election Act contains no comparable provision. Accordingly, on October 5, the provisions of your declaration of co-ownership and the duly adopted by-laws of the syndicate will apply.

And don’t forget to vote!

This article is taken from the upcoming Fall 2026 issue of Condoliaison, which will be available very soon.