Ontario asks whether a refusal was reasonable, decided after the fact by a judge. Quebec supplies a clock instead.
Short answer
Yes. Article 1871 of the Civil Code of Quebec sets both a standard and a deadline: “The lessor may not refuse to consent to the sublease of the property or the assignment of the lease without a serious reason.” The second sentence is the part with no common-law equivalent: “If he refuses, he is bound to inform the lessee of his reasons for refusing within 15 days after receiving the notice; otherwise, he is deemed to have consented.” The sanction for missing the deadline is consent itself, not merely a right to sue over the delay. See Civil Code of Quebec, art. 1871.
The tenant has to start the clock correctly. Article 1870 requires the tenant “to give the lessor notice of his intention and the name and address of the intended sublessee or assignee and to obtain the lessor’s consent” — three particulars, and no obligation to hand over financial statements unasked. See Civil Code of Quebec, art. 1870. These provisions sit in the Code’s general lease division, which covers every lease, not only residential ones — the residential-specific rules begin later, at article 1892.
Consent is also not a revenue opportunity: article 1872 caps what a landlord may charge for consenting at “the reimbursement of any reasonable expenses resulting from the sublease or assignment” — not a fee, and not a renegotiated rent. The default on the seller’s continuing exposure runs opposite to Ontario too: article 1873 discharges the former lessee unless the parties agree otherwise, so a Quebec seller starts from release rather than continuing liability. Whether the fifteen-day clock can be contracted out of turns on whether it is a rule of public order — a question the lease’s own wording has to answer.
This case-file cluster does not include a Quebec lease-assignment file. Case Files: the relief window that closed when the Crown sold the lease is the closest analogue on file — a different jurisdiction and a different clock, but the same lesson that a statutory deadline runs on its own terms, not on the deal’s. The Quebec-specific mechanics are worked through in the article linked in Sources below.
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