Certificate of Location
Understand the Certificate of Location in Canadian real estate, what it contains, when it’s needed, and how it protects buyers and lenders.
May 16, 2025
What is a Certificate of Location?
A Certificate of Location is a legal document prepared by a land surveyor that outlines the position of buildings, structures, and boundaries on a property relative to the land title.
Why a Certificate of Location Matters in Real Estate
In Canadian real estate, this certificate is often required during property sales or mortgage approvals, especially in Quebec.
The certificate includes:
- Boundary lines and property dimensions
- Building locations and encroachments
- Compliance with zoning and bylaws
Lenders and buyers use it to confirm that the property meets legal and zoning requirements and that there are no disputes with neighbouring lots. It differs from a full property survey but still plays a critical legal and planning role.
Understanding the Certificate of Location helps avoid legal surprises and ensures regulatory compliance when purchasing or developing property.
Example of a Certificate of Location
A buyer's lender requests an updated Certificate of Location to confirm that the garage addition does not encroach onto the neighbour's lot.
Key Takeaways
- Prepared by a certified land surveyor.
- Verifies building positions and boundaries.
- Often required by lenders.
- Important for legal clarity.
- Especially relevant in Quebec.
Related Terms
- Property Survey
- Encroachment
- Zoning
- Land Use Bylaws
- Title Transfer
National average resale-price growth and housing-starts growth, smoothed over three months. The comparison illustrates the cycle; it does not establish how much a price change causes construction to change.
Trailing 12-month starts in centres of 50,000 or more remove the usual monthly seasonality. Ownership combines the homeowner and condominium categories; rental is shown separately.
Six-month averages of provincial starts, expressed at annual rates. The smoothing reduces the influence of individual apartment projects.
The same August benchmark compared with two different starting points. Three-month changes are not annualized.
Average sale prices show the difference in purchase costs across markets. They do not measure affordability relative to local incomes or construction costs.
Newfoundland and Labrador remains above its pre-pandemic sales pattern, but August activity was below last year. Historical lines retain their original release vintages.
Average and median describe different aspects of the same month’s transactions. Both are affected by the mix of homes sold.
Category averages compare different homes and locations; the gaps are not estimates of the cost to upgrade an otherwise identical property.
The five categories shown account for 5,000 of the board’s 5,057 sales. The remaining 57 transactions were in other housing categories.
Monthly observations are not seasonally adjusted. Active listings count properties available at month-end; they are not construction inventory.
Average and median prices share one dollar axis. These unadjusted transaction measures do not control for changes in the homes sold.
TRREB’s 416/905 categories compare the apartments sold in each area. The difference does not isolate a location premium for equivalent units.
5680 Oak Street in Vancouver and its surrounding context. (MCMP Architects)
Ground-level renderings of the tower proposed for 5680 Oak Street in Vancouver. (MCMP Architects)
