The client
A buyer in Granby financed a $318,000 purchase with a $24,000 accessibility retrofit under a purchase-plus-improvements mortgage -- widening a load-bearing doorway and converting a bathroom to a roll-in shower for wheelchair access.
Purchase price
$318,000, Granby
10% down, insured
Accessibility retrofit
$24,000
Load-bearing doorway widened, roll-in shower conversion
Original contractor
An unlicensed handyman
No RBQ licence for structural work
Buyer's income
$6,800/month
The problem
Under Quebec's Building Act, any person who performs or commissions construction work -- foundation, alteration, structural renovation -- must hold a licence from the Regie du batiment du Quebec (RBQ), and the requirement reaches an owner-arranged renovation as well as a professional builder's own project.
What the lender's funding condition caught
- ▸The family had hired a handyman to widen a load-bearing doorway -- structural work, squarely inside the Building Act's licence requirement
- ▸The handyman held no RBQ licence at all for this category of work
- ▸The lender's own funding condition for the final draw required proof of a licensed contractor before releasing the balance
The retrofit itself was never in question. Who was legally allowed to build it was.
The numbers
The retrofit's cost never changed; what changed was who was licensed to actually perform the structural portion of the work.
| Financing the retrofit, regardless of which contractor performed it | Amount |
|---|---|
| As-improved lending value (purchase + retrofit) | $342,000 |
| CMHC premium (3.10% at 90% LTV) | +$9,542 |
| Total insured mortgage | $317,342 |
| Total debt service | Figure |
|---|---|
| Payment at the qualifying rate (6.95%), 25 years | $2,213/mo |
| Property tax | $295/mo |
| Heat | $115/mo |
| Car loan | $200/mo |
| Total debt service | 41.5% |
41.5% clears comfortably inside CMHC's 44% ceiling, unaffected by the licensing question -- the retrofit's cost and the mortgage math were never in doubt. What held the final draw was a funding condition, not the ratios, a pattern consistent with how closely lenders now tie construction holdback releases to verified, licensed work.
The solution
A courtier hypothecaire licensed under Quebec's Act respecting the distribution of financial products and services treated the licensing gap as a condition to satisfy, not a reason to abandon the retrofit or the file.
First, confirmed with the RBQ's own public licence registry that the original handyman held no licence for structural renovation work at all. The requirement is not a formality; the Building Act reaches an owner-arranged renovation directly.
Second, engaged a properly RBQ-licensed contractor for the structural doorway work, verifying the new contractor's licence number and category against the same public registry before any further work proceeded.
Third, resumed the draw once the lender's funding condition was satisfied, with the licensed contractor's own documentation supporting the remaining, inspected progress.
The outcome
The purchase funded insured at 41.5% total debt service, with the structural work completed by a verified, RBQ-licensed contractor and Quebec's welcome tax on the $318,000 purchase coming to $2,880.
Because this file is CMHC-insured, the 41.5% TDS figure is measured against the real 44% ceiling and the 38.6% GDS figure against the real 39% ceiling; both clear with real margin.
What to take from this file
- 01Quebec's RBQ licence requirement reaches an owner-arranged renovation, not just a professional builder's project. Structural work -- including widening a load-bearing doorway -- needs a licensed contractor either way.
- 02Verify a contractor's licence against the RBQ's own public registry before work begins, not after a lender's funding condition catches the gap.
- 03A licensing gap is a funding-condition problem, not a ratio problem. The mortgage math in this file was never the obstacle.
- 04An accessibility retrofit's structural elements deserve the same licensing scrutiny as any other construction work. The purpose of the renovation does not change what the Building Act requires.
Sources
Every regulatory figure in this file traces to one of these primary sources. Client details and anything that varies by lender are illustrative, as flagged below.
- ▸CMHC — Purchase (Mortgage Loan Insurance) — default-insurance premium schedule by LTV band (25-year amortization).
- ▸CMHC — CMHC Home Start — minimum down payment tiers (5%/10%) and the $1.5M insured price cap.
- ▸OSFI — Minimum qualifying rate for uninsured mortgages — the minimum qualifying rate — greater of contract rate + 2% or 5.25%.
- ▸CMHC — CMHC Reviews Underwriting Criteria — GDS 39% / TDS 44% maximums and the 600 credit-score floor for insured files.
- ▸Provincial/territorial mortgage-broker legislation fetched directly (bclaws.gov.bc.ca, legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca, fcaa.gov.sk.ca, web2.gov.mb.ca, nslegislature.ca, assembly.nl.ca) plus FCNB's own site for NB and CanLII's index for PE — see notes for per-province method — provincial mortgage regulators and licence titles.
- ▸Gouvernement du Québec — Droits sur les mutations immobilières — Quebec's transfer duties ('welcome tax') — 2026 indexed brackets.
Illustrative in this file — lender-specific, not rules:
- ▸4.95% contract rate — rates move daily; not a quote.
- ▸the 9-day draw delay — how long a licensing gap actually delays a draw depends on the lender's own funding-condition process and how quickly a replacement contractor can be engaged.
Authority & provenance
How this case file was built
We publish the origin, the verification method and the reviewer for every case file, so you can judge how far to trust it before you rely on it with a client.
Where it comes from
Derived from files handled by Treadstone’s fulfillment desk and from scenarios contributed by partner brokerages. Names, employers, exact amounts and dates are changed so no client or file is identifiable.
Provenance: Composite — a pattern seen repeatedly on fulfilled files, not a single transaction.
What is verified
Every regulatory figure traces to a primary source listed above and was checked against it on the date shown. The arithmetic is recomputed by machine on every rebuild.
Anything that varies by lender is labelled illustrative rather than stated as a rule.
Who reviewed it
Reviewed for Canadian regulatory accuracy before publication, and re-checked whenever a cited rule changes.
Reviewed by: Nicholas Parson, Treadstone Associates — reviews every case file before publication.
This case file is professional reference material for licensed mortgage professionals. It is not advice to a borrower, and it is not a lender commitment. Insurer rules, qualifying rates and provincial taxes change — confirm the current position with the insurer, regulator or lender before you rely on any figure here in a live file.