Consultation process

You are invited to take part some of the steps in the renewal process for your cadastre, to ensure that your property is represented accurately in the public register.

A consultation notice is a letter sent by the Government, presenting the results of the cadastral renewal of your property.

The notice also states that you may, if you wish, meet with the land surveying firm to comment on the draft cadastral plan before it comes into force. At the meeting, you will have an opportunity to examine the cadastral representation of your property and identify any problems, thereby helping to avoid delays or other inconveniences when you eventually sell it.

The consultation notice is always accompanied by the following documents:

• A personalized sheet usually containing an excerpt from the draft cadastral plan showing your property. The sheet, entitled “Specific cadastral information on your property”, describes the impacts of the cadastral renewal on your lot. It is the only printed document showing your new lot number. Depending on the changes made during the renewal process, you can decide whether or not you need to attend the meeting. If no excerpt is included, you are strongly encouraged to attend the meeting and consult the draft cadastral plan, because the absence of an excerpt means that the lot, due to its size, cannot be shown legibly on a letter-format document.
• A promotional insert briefly informing you of the impacts of the cadastral renewal and stating that a meeting will be held.
• A leaflet explaining the work, designed to help you to decide whether or not you should take part in the plan consultation process.

Please contact us if you have lost your consultation notice or would like an English version.

By e-mail
cadastre@mrnf.gouv.qc.ca

Par telephone
Toll-free: 1 888 733-3720

Please note that you will automatically receive an English version of the consultation notice if you requested an English version of the notice of intention.

The cadastral renewal process is coordinated by the Government, but the work is done by private land surveying firms hired to represent the lots on the new cadastral plan.

The work done by land surveyors to prepare the new plan sent out to landowners is divided into phases:

1. Collection of data from documents
   All information on your ownership rights is compiled to ensure that your lot is represented properly on the new draft plan. This information (dimensions, surface area and lot number) is obtained from different sources, including existing cadastral documents and ownership deeds.
2. Collection of data in the field
   The land surveyor may have to visit your property to take measurements or identify current occupation markers (boundary markers, hedges, fences, walls, etc.).Please note, however, that the land surveyor is not empowered by the Government to place boundary markers at the site .
3. Analysis
   Once all the necessary information has been obtained, the land surveyor performs an analysis and produces a new cadastral plan for the sector. It is the result of this analysis that is sent to you with the consultation notice.
4. Consultation meeting
   All property owners whose properties are affected by the draft plan are invited to attend the meeting.

At the meeting, you will have an opportunity to talk to the land surveyor who prepared the new cadastral plan of your property. You will be able to express your opinion of the result, and in some cases you may be able to provide additional documentation.

Your participation is entirely voluntary. However, it is in your interests to read the documents produced by the land surveyor and to make sure you are satisfied with them.

The consultation will be held in one of the municipalities in which the cadastral renewal mandate takes place. The land surveying firm will select a location that is easily accessible (such as a community centre) and able to host several hundred people. Its representatives will be present at that location for a period of two to four days.

The schedule of meetings is shown in the consultation notice sent by the government. Meetings usually begin at 2 p.m. and end at 8 p.m., allowing property owners to attend at a time that is convenient to them.

The consultation begins when you arrive at the reception desk. Your presence is noted and your lot number is identified, to facilitate the plan consultation process. The consultation is then divided into three steps:

1. Consultation of the plans
   A representative from the land surveying firm will help you to read the draft cadastral plan on which your property appears.

   If you are satisfied with the way your property is represented on the plan, and with the answers to your questions, your participation in the consultation ends at this point.

2. Meeting with the land surveyor who prepared your plan (optional) 
   If any of the following situations applies to you, you may meet with the land surveyor who produced the draft plan:

   • If you wish to obtain additional information about your property.
   • If you do not agree with the way your lots have been grouped together, or the way your property has been represented on the plan.
   • If you have new arguments to present or additional documents to submit.

3. Request for revision (optional)
   If you think your rights are not represented correctly on the draft cadastral plan, you can ask for a revision. 

   If you do this, the land surveyor will write down your arguments on a form and will carry out an additional analysis. A copy of the completed form will be given to you.
   
   A few months later, you will receive a notice of amendment setting out the results of the additional analysis. It will tell you whether or not the representation of your property has been amended on the cadastral plan, and if so, what changes were made.

The meeting is not...

The consultation meeting is not an information meeting or a general assembly. The times shown in the notice are the times at which you may attend, but do not reflect the total time for which you may be present.

Invited property owners

All property owners concerned by the draft cadastral plan are invited to attend the consultation meeting. Invitations are personalized and the consultation is held in the sector in which the work takes place. This means that owner whose lots are secondary residences may be invited to attend the meeting.

If you cannot attend the meeting

If you cannot attend the consultation meeting, you may appoint someone else to represent you. A proxy is not needed to consult the plans, but it may be useful if your representative needs to ask for a review of the land surveyor’s work.

If you cannot attend any of the consultation meetings and cannot send a representative in your place, you should contact the land surveying form responsible for the work, as soon as you receive the notice.

Access for people with disabilities

People with disabilities must be able to access the buildings in which the consultations take place. This is a government requirement.
 

One of the aims of the cadastral renewal is to simplify the representation of land subdivisions. The land surveyors have therefore been asked to group lots or parts of lots making up the same property under a single number, unless otherwise instructed by the property owner concerned. For lots to be grouped together, they must be contiguous and owned by the same person.

If you do not wish your lots to be grouped together, you must inform the land surveyor at the meeting.

Grouping of lots may not be recommended if: 

• You have acquired rights over certain lots.
• You wish to sell the lots separately.
• You have mortgaged the lots separately, or wish to do so.
• You use the lots for different purposes.

If you are in agreement with the proposed grouping, a single number will be assigned to all the parcels of land making up your property. 

If you have doubts, you should talk to the land surveyor in charge of the work. He or she will advise you.