Real Estate Talk:
The Seller’s Declaration
The Seller’s Declaration must indicate the condition of the property to the best of the seller’s knowledge
By Joseph Marovitch
Updated June 19, 2025
When selling a residential property with a broker, the seller is required to complete a Seller’s Declaration stating the condition of the property to the best of the seller’s knowledge. The broker must then place the document on Centris with the listing. The listing cannot be entered on Centris without the Seller’s Declaration for a residential sale.
The declaration must be truthful. Each question answered must be accurate. Whether the seller knows the answer or not, they must answer “yes”, “no”, “do not know”, or “N/A”.
What the seller cannot do is withhold relevant information they are aware of that can devalue the property. The buyer is providing an offer based on criteria the buyer requires, on the visit, and the information in the Seller’s Declaration. Because all issues are declared in the Seller’s Declaration, the amount of the offer already considers those issues. Therefore, if the Seller’s Declaration states the house requires a new roof, the offer accounts for the roof, and the buyer cannot negotiate a lower offer after inspection because of the roof. The buyer has already accepted that a new roof is required before providing the offer.
In certain circumstances, the seller may want to have a pre-inspection, such as if they inherited the property but never lived in it.
A pre-inspection has both pros and cons. The pros are, if the pre-inspection reveals issues the seller is not aware of, and these issues can devalue the property, the seller can declare the issues so the buyer cannot renegotiate the offer price, or the seller can repair the issues, declare the repair in the seller’s declaration, provide receipts, and increase the value.
What the seller cannot do is withhold relevant information they are aware of that can devalue the property.
The cons of a pre-inspection are, if there are several detected issues or expensive-to-repair issues, the buyer may be deterred and not have a chance to fall in love with the property first.
Another rule that applies to the Seller’s Declaration is that if the property received prior offers that did not go to signing, and an inspection took place, the seller is required to amend the Seller’s Declaration to state that there have been previous inspection reports. The seller does not necessarily have to provide the inspection report; however, if the report states an issue that can significantly reduce the value of the property, the seller must declare the issue.
The problem with this is there are buyers will have an inspection report prepared for the purpose of getting the seller to reduce their price.
If the seller does not believe the report to be accurate, the protocol the seller must follow is to have their own inspection performed to either verify or refute the buyer’s inspection report. The seller must then declare both reports in the Seller’s Declaration.
In the end, as long as the seller has declared issues and other reports, it is up to the buyer to have their own inspection and decide for themselves.
The information in these articles is summary. Should you have questions, comments or wish to discuss further, please refer to the comments section at the bottom of the page or contact me directly. As well, to view past articles, click here.
Next article: Sell with or without warranty, and property preparation to sell
State of the market
There is good news and not-so-good news. The good news is that Canadian home sales rose for the first time in six months, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). This rise has been the case for Montreal for more than six months.
The increase in sales would indicate the market is improving and tariffs are tapering off, which they are not. However, the economy has been sturdy, Canadian inflation decreased to 1.7% from 2.3%, and rates are on hold as the Bank of Canada waits for more information on tariff war effects.
‘The good news is that Canadian home sales rose for the first time in six months, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). This rise has been the case for Montreal for more than six months.’
The not-so-good news is that the wars in Ukraine and Gaza continue, and Israel is now fighting on a second front with Iran. The Israel/Iran conflict can expand and draw in other Middle East countries, the U.S. and European nations. Without proper diplomacy from certain parties, these issues can escalate. The result would be slower supply chains, increased inflation and therefore increased rates. Another factor that can affect real estate and the economy is U.S. policy on vaccines, which are being discouraged as measles and a new strain of COVID-19 pass through the states. Should the situation become another pandemic, this would only add to the other factors that can slow the markets.
However, as in every conflict, there is opportunity, such as in the residential income market, buyers’ ability to negotiate, and sellers’ ability to use strategy in selling to meet their goals.
Have a great week!
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Joseph Marovitch has worked in the service industry for over 30 years. His first career was working with families from Westmount and surrounding areas, hosting children between the ages of 6 to 16 as the owner and director of Camp Maromac, a sports and arts sleep-away summer camp established in 1968. Using the same strengths caring for the families, such as reliability, integrity, honesty and a deep sense of protecting the interests of those he is responsible for, Joseph applies this to his present real estate broker career. Should you have questions, please feel free to contact Joseph Marovitch at 514 825-8771, or josephmarovitch@gmail.com
Wondering if anyone has come across a situation like this. During the process of buying a condo a promise to purchase was made based on a seller declaration that stated that there were no instances of water infiltration. However it was found after reviewing the condo syndicate notes that there was a water infiltration incident that also affected the condo below and involved 11k CAD of clean up costs. In such a situation is the buyer still obligated to follow through on the sale ? The real estate agent’s advise is to amend the seller declaration after the fact. The seller has proposed a small reduction in the sale price about 1%. Is the buyer obligated to accept ? What reasonable discount can be negotiated in such a situation case ? Personally an offer would not have been made if the issue was declared upfront.
Hi Sid,
I have experienced similar situations. Regarding part of your question, the seller is not obligated to renegotiate the price. The seller can accept, reject, or counter a renegotiation. For the balance of your questions, I will refer you to the Organisme d’autoreglementation du courtage du Quebec (OACIQ) at 450-462-9800. The OACIQ is the government body monitoring and regulating the actions of real estate transactions. The OACIQ can provide a precise answer as well.
Should you have further questions, please feel free to contact me.