People often ask me: Why do a certificate of location for my condo? The walls have not moved!
The first verification that the land surveyor does is to check the concordance between the occupation and the cadastre.

The sale of lot 1 234 567 but a typo is done and the lot 1 224 567 is what is registered in the sales act. This would make in sort that the
property purchased would be elsewhere, for example…Chicoutimi!

Also, the carpenter in charge of putting the numbers on the doors, puts the number on the wrong door so the purchaser who has visited
this apartment will move in but will not be residing in the apartment he purchased…and mortgaged. You wouldn’t want to be paying the neighbor’s mortgage!
Once inside the condo, the surveyor will verify that the occupation concords with the cadastral plan. In 99% of condos exists common walls which carry electrical wires, plumbing etc…and often are bearing walls. You will understand that these common spaces cannot be modified. The common spaces belong to all the
owners of the building. The exclusive spaces (apartment, parking) belong only to the person(s) who have purchased them. Balconies, parking spaces and storage are often common
spaces for exclusive use. The certificate of location is done for exclusive spaces only.

Here are a few examples that have personally happened to me: A common wall had been removed and the ceiling had dropped by 15 cm (6 inches). A common wall had been partially removed to expand the pantry and another one to install a second door in a room.
An Aquarium had been installed in the common wall. An owner had bought two condos side-by-side and decided to double the living space by making holes (doors) in the common walls.
An owner asks the carpenter to remove a part of the common wall so that she can see in the living room while she washes the dishes.
Another one decides to build a bathroom in the closet and another decides to expand his garage in the common area to store his tools.
A complete building is ravaged by fire and another one by a tornado without being recadastred!

Any owner of land may fence it, at his own expense, with walls, ditches, hedges or any other kind of fence. He may also require his neighbour to make, in equal portions or at common expense, on the dividing line between their lands, a fence suited to the situation and use made of the place.

Common fence, Civil Code, Article 1003

A fence on the dividing line is presumed to be common. Similarly, a wall supporting buildings on either side is presumed to be common up to the point of disjunction.

Criminal Code Of Quebec

Interfering with international boundary marks, etc.

(a) a boundary mark lawfully placed to mark any international, provincial, county or municipal boundary, or
(b) a boundary mark lawfully placed by a land surveyor to mark any limit, boundary or angle of a concession, range, lot or parcel of land,is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.