No Escrow in Montreal
January 18, 2010 by Deyanira Bautista
Filed under Buying Real Estate, Real Estate Law
We don’t hear about Escrows in Montreal. Believe it or not, my fellow Real Estaters (I think I just created a new word) from other provinces and countries.
The first time I heard, actually I didn’t hear it, I READ the word Escrow it was in a Condo Buyer’s Guide I picked up for my clients, and right next to the glossary description of escrow there was a note: Not applicable in Quebec.
Naturally I didn’t take interest on that word, up until I had to work with someone who demanded a escrow company and their contact number.
“A what? Escrow ??….Hmm, I think I’ve heard that before. Not sure where. Let me look into it.”
I’ve called two friends in the industry that have been in the business for about 20 years, and then I talked to my broker and there it was, the same answer: “A what? Never heard of it.”
Apparently, and up until today, there are no escrows companies in Montreal. Not it is used in the real estate transactions here. Maybe they are listed under a different name? If so, please enlighten us in the comments section.
So far, we haven’t have a demand for it. Good news for litigation lawyers.
PS: If you’re itching to know what escrow is, here is the wiki definition.
Posted by: Deya Bautista - Affiliated Real Estate Agent working as part of the McGill Immobilier team. Specializing in condos and revenue property in the metropolitan area of Montreal. For buying or selling contact Deya at: 514.917.7889 
In Quebec, notaries act as an independent third party to fill the roles played by real estate lawyers and escrow agents in other jurisdictions.
My understanding has always been that escrow, in the US, is held by the title company. Which would be the equivalent here to the notary. So it would be first the deposit when making an offer then after the transaction whatever needs to be held back for adjustments.
We do not use the terminology 'escrow' in Ontario either. Come to think of it, I don't think we use this term in Canada (all provinces and territories) at all.
Regards,
Neil.
Thanks David. One of the people I asked about Escrow was my notary, and while he didn't know of it, as soon as I mention what the escrow did as part of their services, my notary agreed on some of them to be as the notary's services as well.
It seems that in the US, they have to pay escrow services PLUS a Real Estate Lawyer services. I'm actually glad we have the notaries here to do all that, at once.
Don't have it in Ontario either? For some reason I thought you did. Perhaps I'm confusing it with Estoppel.
Well usually an escrow account is used when someone is purchasing real estate in cash (no load), and let's face it, we don't exactly live somewhere where that's very common, so I guess the concept of the escrow account has no need here.
"un compte en fidéicommis"…. is the french term you would use to ask for an escrow account…but if your broker does not know what it is..this means he has never made the request or never gave notice that his company will use funds from buyers in escrow accounts…hence you can not give that client the option…. the only people who will ever ask for that is if they withdrew some money out of a higher interest account for it to be available for the purchase of a home… i.e: $50 000+ in cash – rarely do people ever ask for that as cash is now very accessible…