The client
A Granby household switching lenders on a $168,000 mortgage secured against land and a manufactured home that had never been formally immobilized under the Civil Code.
Mortgage balance
$168,000
17 years remaining, switching lenders
New rate
4.85%
5-year fixed, illustrative
Other debt
$230/mo car loan
Property
Land plus a manufactured home, never immobilized
The problem
Under the Civil Code, a manufactured or mobile home only becomes part of the land — an immovable — once it is formally immobilized: permanently affixed, with a notarial declaration of immobilization registered against the property. Until that happens, it remains movable property in its own right, and any hypothec securing it is published at the RDPRM (the Registre des droits personnels et reels mobiliers), not the Registre foncier alongside the land.
What the switch almost missed
- ▸The home had never been immobilized — no notarial declaration was ever registered
- ▸The original lender's hypothec on the home was published at the RDPRM, a different register from the land title
- ▸A search of the Registre foncier alone came back looking clear, since the home's own security was never there
Missing the RDPRM registration would not have stopped the switch from closing — it would have let the old lender's security on the home survive, undischarged, alongside the new lender's hypothec on the land.
The numbers
Clearing both registers, not just one, was the only way to hand the new lender clean security over everything actually pledged.
| The switch | Amount |
|---|---|
| Mortgage balance | $168,000 |
| Qualifying payment (6.85%, 17 yrs) | $1,387/mo |
| Total debt service | Figure |
|---|---|
| Payment at the qualifying rate (6.85%), 17 years | $1,387/mo |
| Property tax | $240/mo |
| Heat (lender estimate) | $105/mo |
| Car loan | $230/mo |
| Total debt service | 29.7% |
29.7% sits well inside the range a typical Canadian renewal file needs to clear — the ratios were never the concern on this file; the RDPRM registration was the only real obstacle.
The solution
A courtier hypothecaire authorized under the Act respecting the distribution of financial products and services flagged the immobilization question to the new lender's notary before the switch was scheduled to close.
First, confirmed the home's own legal status. A notarial declaration of immobilization was never registered, meaning the home remained legally movable no matter how permanently it sat on its foundation.
Second, searched the RDPRM, not just the Registre foncier. That search turned up the original lender's hypothec on the home, registered years earlier under a reference that never showed on the land title at all.
Third, obtained a proper discharge at the RDPRM and re-registered against both. The new lender's hypothec was registered against both the land at the Registre foncier and the still-movable home at the RDPRM.
The outcome
The switch closed at 4.85% with both registers cleared and re-registered correctly, at 29.7% total debt service.
This file is uninsured throughout, so 29.7% TDS is informational, not a CMHC ceiling — the loan amount and amortization never changed.
What to take from this file
- 01A manufactured home isn't automatically part of the land. Immobilization requires its own notarial declaration — until that's registered, the home stays movable property.
- 02Movable security in Quebec lives at the RDPRM, not the Registre foncier. A land-register-only title search will never show it.
- 03Discharging a hypothec on the land does nothing to a hypothec on the home. They sit in different registers, and each needs its own discharge.
- 04This applies beyond manufactured homes. Anything a Quebec lender secures as movable property — equipment, fixtures not yet incorporated into the building — follows the same rule.
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.
- ▸OSFI — Minimum qualifying rate for uninsured mortgages — the minimum qualifying rate — greater of contract rate + 2% or 5.25%.
- ▸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.
Illustrative in this file — lender-specific, not rules:
- ▸4.85% contract rate — rates move daily; not a quote.
- ▸the TDS figure — this file is uninsured, so there is no CMHC ratio ceiling — the number is informational.
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.