Municipal Assessment and Taxes: What the Roll Tells You About a Condo

Buyers ask two things about the municipal assessment (évaluation municipale): is the price fair compared with the roll, and what will the taxes be? The roll answers the second question well and the first one poorly. Here is how to read it for a condo, and the questions that usually follow.

What the roll is

Each municipality keeps an assessment roll (rôle d'évaluation foncière) that lasts three years. Every value on it is set as of a single reference date, about 18 months before the roll takes effect. For Montréal's 2026, 2027 and 2028 roll, that date is July 1, 2024 (Ville de Montréal).

In divided co-ownership, each unit has its own entry, its own lot and its own value. That value covers the private portion together with its share of the common portions, which is why the lobby and the roof don't get a tax bill of their own. Parking spaces and storage lockers sometimes have separate lots and separate entries.

You can find the entry on the municipality's online roll, on the tax bill, or with our free lot tool, which also estimates the taxes.

Assessment is not market value

The roll is a mass appraisal as of a past date. It values thousands of properties at once from comparable sales, not this unit, on this floor, today. A gap between the roll and the asking price is normal, and in a rising market the roll will usually be lower.

The municipality's comparative factor (facteur comparatif) shows how far the roll sits from market levels in a given year. It is 1.00 in a roll's first year and moves as the market does.

For pricing, the roll is useful mainly for comparisons: the same unit over time, or similar units in the same building. It is not a valuation, and it shouldn't replace one.

Does the sale price change the roll?

Not during the current roll. The roll is updated when the property itself changes: construction, renovation, demolition, a change of use, or a correction. A sale changes only the owner's name. Paying 15% more than the roll value doesn't raise the unit's assessment, and paying less doesn't lower it, so the taxes for the rest of the roll don't depend on the price.

The sale does count later. When the assessor prepares the next roll, sales around the next reference date are the main evidence, so your buyer's price becomes one comparable among many in the building and the area. The unit isn't reset to its sale price, and a sale far out of line with the others is usually set aside.

The tax a sale does affect is the welcome tax, the duties on transfers of immovables (droits de mutation). They are calculated on the highest of the price, the consideration stated in the deed, and the roll value multiplied by the comparative factor (Ville de Montréal). A buyer who gets a bargain below the roll value pays the welcome tax on the roll value. In Montréal in 2026, a unit bought for $430,000 but assessed at $450,000 pays about $4,860 instead of about $4,560.

Reading a condo's entry

The fields that matter:

• The value, split between land and building, and the previous roll's value.
• The floor area of the unit.
• The year built and the number of units in the building.
• The use code, which tells a residential unit from a parking space or a commercial unit.

A large increase from one roll to the next is normal in many markets. An increase much larger than the rest of the building's units is worth a question.

Compare the floor area with the listing and the certificate of location (certificat de localisation). The roll's area is often measured differently and can be wrong. When the numbers disagree, rely on the certificate, not the roll or the listing.

Phase-in

When values rise, some municipalities spread the change over the roll's three years instead of applying it at once. This is the phase-in (étalement). In 2026, a dozen municipalities do it, Montréal among them.

Under a phase-in, the value used for taxes is the previous roll's value plus a third of the change in year one, two thirds in year two, and the full change in year three. So taxes can keep rising for two more years even if the tax rates don't change. Your buyer should know that before reading this year's bill as next year's.

From value to tax bill

A condo's tax bill has two parts.

Municipal taxes. The municipality's rate applied to the taxable value, usually expressed per $100 of value. In Montréal, the bill adds city-wide and borough taxes to the general tax, and some former municipalities still carry a debt tax.

School tax. A single provincial rate applies to the value, after an exemption of $25,000. The school year runs from July to June, unlike the municipal year.

What the estimate leaves out: sector taxes for local works, metered water, waste and other service charges where the municipality bills them separately, and the condo fees, which pay for the syndicate's costs and never appear on the tax bill.

Questions that come after the purchase

Who pays the taxes for the year of the sale? The notary splits them at closing (the répartition). The seller pays up to the day of the sale and the buyer from then on. Since the seller has usually paid the year's taxes in advance, the buyer reimburses the rest at closing, for the municipal year and the school year separately.

What is a supplementary tax bill? When the roll is modified during the year, after renovations or a correction, the municipality sends an extra bill. The change can go back to the date of the work, as far as the previous year. If the seller renovated recently, the supplementary bill can arrive after the sale, addressed to your buyer. Ask the seller about recent work and permits, and raise it with the notary.

Will renovations raise the assessment? Yes, if they add value. A building permit usually brings the assessor's attention, followed by a modification and a supplementary bill.

Can the value be contested? A request for review (demande de révision) must generally be filed before May 1 following the roll's entry into force, or within 60 days of a notice of modification (Gouvernement du Québec). A buyer who arrives in the second or third year of a roll usually can't contest it until the next roll, unless the roll is modified in the meantime.

Does the lender use the roll? No. Lenders rely on their own appraisal.

What to do with it

• Pull the unit's entry, and any separate entries for parking or storage.
• Check the floor area against the listing and the certificate of location.
• Estimate the taxes from the roll and the current rates, and compare the estimate with the taxes in the listing.
• If the municipality phases in increases, tell your buyer what the next two years look like.
• Check the welcome tax base: the price or the roll value times the comparative factor, whichever is higher.
• Ask the seller about recent renovations and permits, and flag the risk of a supplementary bill to the notary.

Sources

• Ville de Montréal, Valeur foncière d'une propriété
• Ville de Montréal, Comment sont calculés les droits sur les mutations immobilières
• Gouvernement du Québec, Demander la révision de l'évaluation foncière