How the law sets the contribution amount
The amount to contribute to a divided co-ownership's contingency fund in Quebec is not a percentage of current expenses: it is sized to the major repairs and replacement of common elements, based on the recommendations of a contingency fund study. That is what article 1071 of the Civil Code of Québec provides, as amended by Bill 16 (2019, c. 28).
The article also sets a quantified floor for the promoter phase: until the promoter has obtained the study, contributions to the fund must equal 0.5 % of the building's reconstruction value.
To run the numbers on your own building right now, go to the contingency fund calculator: it projects the fund balance over 25 years and returns the recommended monthly contribution.
What about the « 5 % of common expenses » figure?
The « 5 % of annual common expenses » figure is not written into article 1071. It comes from:
- older declarations of co-ownership that adopted this contractual floor as a prudent practice,
- older management practices from before Bill 16, when this benchmark served as an unofficial norm,
- confusion with the 0.5 % of reconstruction value of the promoter phase.
If your declaration provides for a 5 % of common expenses floor (or any other threshold), it applies contractually: your syndicate sets the rule on itself, not the law. For more, see our dedicated article on the 5 % threshold.
Professional calculation: the contingency fund study
For existing co-ownerships, the study sets the contributions. It is prepared on the basis of the forward-looking section of the maintenance logbook — inventory of common-element components, condition and remaining useful life of each, major repairs and replacements to be carried out over at least 25 years (Decree 991-2025, arts. 3 and 8, para. 1). No compliant logbook, no compliant study: the two documents hold each other up.
The study's own minimum contents come down to four items (Decree 991-2025, art. 8, para. 2):
- the contingency fund balance used to prepare the study,
- a cost estimate for each major repair and replacement, at the estimated year of execution recorded in the logbook,
- a recommendation on the balance that must be available in the fund at the start of each year and on the amounts to contribute annually — specifying, where applicable, the share reserved for major repairs and replacement of common portions for restricted use (PCUR),
- an explanation of the calculations behind those amounts.
The fourth item is the one most often overlooked when comparing bids: a study that hands over a number without showing the calculation behind it does not meet the regulation.
Once the study is produced, its recommendations apply to the syndicate. The promoter-phase 0.5 % rule stops applying; a contractual floor lower than the study becomes inoperative for the « insufficient » portion; a contractual floor higher than the study continues to prevail.
Who can produce the study
Five categories of professionals are authorized by the regulation (Decree 991-2025, arts. 1 and 7):
- Engineer registered with the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec (OIQ),
- Architect registered with the Ordre des architectes du Québec (OAQ),
- Professional technologist registered with the Ordre des technologues professionnels du Québec (OTPQ),
- Chartered appraiser registered with the Ordre des évaluateurs agréés du Québec (OEAQ),
- Chartered professional accountant (CPA) registered with the Ordre des CPA du Québec — only for the contingency fund study, and subject to the same independence requirement.
In every case, the professional cannot be a director, manager, co-owner, or occupant of the building, nor the spouse of such a person.
Deadline and frequency
The study must be obtained by the board at least every 5 years (Decree 991-2025, art. 8). The obligation has been in force since August 14, 2025; the first Bill 16-compliant study must have been obtained by August 15, 2028 for existing co-ownerships (Bill 16, s. 151, para. 1: three years and one day after the regulation came into force).
Run it yourself: the calculator
The CondoAide contingency fund calculator builds the same mechanics as the study, free and with no account. You enter the common-element components, their condition and their remaining useful life; you set the construction-cost inflation rate and the expected return on the fund balance; the tool projects the balance year by year over the horizon you choose — 25 years by default, the regulation's minimum horizon.
What it gives back:
- the recommended monthly contribution — the one that keeps the fund solvent in every year of the projection — and the gap against what the syndicate contributes today;
- the per-fraction breakdown, computed on the relative shares, so you know what the increase means for each co-owner before you present it at assembly;
- a fund health score and the year the balance goes negative, if it does;
- a PDF report to attach to the notice of meeting or the minutes, delivered by email.
Set the horizon to 10 years to visualize the catch-up required by section 154 of Bill 16, which obliges the board to bring an insufficient fund back to a sufficient level within 10 years of obtaining the first study.
It is not a substitute for the study: only a member of one of the five authorized orders can produce the one Bill 16 requires. It is the step before — the one that tells you what order of magnitude to expect and which questions to put to the bidders.