Quorum lets the meeting proceed; each decision then requires its own majority. Three articles of the Civil Code of Québec share the work: article 1096 for ordinary decisions, article 1097 for those that touch the immovable, and article 1098 for the rare decisions that change the nature of the co-ownership itself. Applying the wrong article exposes the resolution to an annulment application.
Quorum does not replace the majority
Quorum is constituted by the co-owners holding the majority of the votes, present or represented (art. 1089 CCQ). It is the condition for the meeting to sit, and it does not vary with the item on the agenda. Once the meeting is properly open, each item is settled on the majority the Code assigns to it.
In every case you add up votes, never people: a co-owner's number of votes is proportional to the relative value (valeur relative) of their fraction (art. 1090 CCQ), as stated in the constituting act of co-ownership. There is no default relative value, and no rule splits the votes equally between fractions. Only two thresholds are counted per person: the quorum of the reconvened meeting (art. 1089 para. 2 CCQ) and the first limb of article 1098.
The AGM quorum calculator returns the quorum verdict and the majorities the attendance you enter makes reachable. Those thresholds describe what the attendance makes reachable, not the outcome of a vote.
Ordinary decisions: the majority of the votes present (art. 1096 CCQ)
Article 1096 of the Civil Code sets the default rule: « Les décisions du syndicat sont prises à la majorité des voix des copropriétaires présents ou représentés à l'assemblée, y compris celles visant à modifier le règlement de l'immeuble ou à corriger une erreur matérielle dans la déclaration de copropriété. » In English: decisions of the syndicate are taken on a majority of the votes of the co-owners present or represented at the meeting, including decisions to amend the règlement de l'immeuble (the building by-laws) or to correct a clerical error in the declaration of co-ownership.
It also covers electing the directors and ordinary administrative resolutions. The decisive word is « présents ». The base of the calculation is all the votes present or represented, not the votes cast. An abstention is therefore not neutral: it stays in the denominator without ever joining the numerator, which gives it the arithmetic effect of a vote against.
Article 1097 decisions: three quarters of the votes, counted once
Article 1097 of the Civil Code covers the decisions that engage the immovable itself: acquisition or alienation of immovables by the syndicate, work to transform, enlarge or improve the common portions and the apportionment of its cost, the construction of buildings to create new fractions, amendments to the constituting act of co-ownership or to the description of the fractions, and changes to the description of the private portions referred to in article 1070.
The text reads: « Sont prises par des copropriétaires, représentant les trois quarts des voix des copropriétaires, présents ou représentés, les décisions qui concernent […] »: the listed decisions are taken by co-owners representing three quarters of the votes of the co-owners present or represented.
Here is the most common trap in Quebec. Before 2019, article 1097 had two limbs and required a headcount of the co-owners on top of three quarters of the votes. Bill 16 (2019, c. 28, s. 53) removed the headcount. One measure remains: three quarters of the votes of the co-owners present or represented. The old wording survives in outdated minute templates and in plenty of material published online. Demanding a headcount on top of the votes today imposes a majority the Code no longer prescribes and blocks work that was validly adopted.
As under article 1096, the base is the votes present or represented, never the votes cast: an abstention still weighs on the side of refusal.
Article 1098: the double majority is measured against all co-owners
Article 1098 of the Civil Code reserves a distinct regime for three decisions: changing the destination of the immovable, alienating common portions whose preservation is necessary to maintain that destination, and amending the declaration to allow a fraction to be held by several persons with a periodic and successive right of enjoyment.
The threshold has two cumulative conditions, and both are measured against the whole co-ownership, not against the room:
- three quarters of the co-owners, counted per person (a co-owner holding several fractions is still a single co-owner);
- 90% of the votes of all co-owners, not 90% of the votes present.
This is the costliest misunderstanding a syndicate can carry. A co-owner who does not attend and sends no proxy is not removed from the denominator: they count as a no, in both limbs. An article 1098 resolution is not won in the room; it is prepared well ahead, proxies in hand.
Majority table
| Decision | Majority required | Base of the calculation |
|---|---|---|
| Electing directors, ordinary resolutions, amending the règlement de l'immeuble, correcting a clerical error | Majority of the votes (art. 1096 CCQ) | Votes of the co-owners present or represented |
| Work to transform, enlarge or improve the common portions; acquisition or alienation of immovables; amendments to the constituting act or to the description of the fractions | Three quarters of the votes (art. 1097 CCQ) | Votes of the co-owners present or represented |
| Changing the destination of the immovable; alienating common portions necessary to that destination; periodic and successive holding of a fraction | Three quarters of the co-owners representing 90% of the votes (art. 1098 CCQ) | All co-owners, present or not |
What the declaration of co-ownership cannot change
A declaration cannot move these thresholds. Article 1101 of the Civil Code is categorical: « Est réputée non écrite toute stipulation de la déclaration de copropriété qui modifie le nombre de voix requis pour prendre une décision prévue par le présent chapitre. » Any stipulation of the declaration of co-ownership that changes the number of votes required to take a decision provided for in the chapter on divided co-ownership is deemed unwritten. A clause requiring unanimity for article 1097 work, or lowering the article 1098 threshold, has no effect. The declaration keeps its role elsewhere: notice of call, proxies, the conduct of the meeting.
Votes removed from the calculation
A co-owner who has not paid their share of the common expenses for more than three months is deprived of their voting rights (art. 1094 CCQ). Their votes are then removed from the calculation and the total votes is reduced accordingly (art. 1099 CCQ): they are never redistributed to the other co-owners. The denominator shrinks, and so does the threshold.
What to do before the meeting
- Qualify every agenda item with its article: 1096, 1097 or 1098. Write it next to the item in the notice of call.
- Take the relative values from the constituting act of co-ownership, never from an improvised equal split.
- Target the proxies according to the article: for an article 1098 item, every unrepresented absence is a firm no. The AGM quorum calculator shows in advance what the expected attendance makes reachable.
- Record the verdict and the count in the minutes, article by article. A co-owner may ask the court to annul a decision within 90 days of the meeting, in particular where an error occurred in the counting of the votes (art. 1103 CCQ).
For the mechanics of quorum, the vote calculation and the reconvened meeting: Quorum at a Condo AGM in Quebec.