Terminology
Glossary of legal and technical terms used in Quebec co-ownership and in Syndic+.
Legal vocabulary#
A#
AGM (Annual General Meeting) — Mandatory yearly meeting of all co-owners, convened by the board within 90 days of fiscal year-end.
Special Meeting (SGM) — Any meeting other than the AGM, convened by the board or at the request of 10% of co-owners.
Administrator / Director — Member of the syndicate's board, elected by the AGM for a 3-year maximum term.
Assessment notice — Invoice sent to co-owners for their contribution to common expenses. Non-receipt doesn't waive the obligation to pay.
B#
Board of directors — Management body of the syndicate, typically composed of 3 to 9 directors.
C#
Common expenses — Costs tied to building operations (maintenance, insurance, services, routine repairs) allocated pro-rata to fractions.
Co-owner — Natural or legal person holding an ownership right in a fraction of the building.
Contingency fund — Mandatory reserve for major repairs and replacement of common portions. Minimum 5% of common expenses.
D#
Declaration of co-ownership — Notarized deed creating the co-ownership. Includes the constituting act, building rules, and description of fractions.
Divided co-ownership — Regime where each co-owner has exclusive ownership of a private portion (apartment) and an undivided right to common portions. Governed by articles 1038-1109 CCQ.
Destination of the immovable — Intended use (residential, mixed, commercial). Changing it requires reinforced majority (art. 1098 CCQ).
E#
Exclusive-use common portions — Common portions whose use is reserved for one or more co-owners (e.g. balcony, assigned parking).
F#
Fraction — Unit of co-ownership. Private portion + share of common portions.
I#
Individed co-ownership — A different regime where multiple people jointly own an entire building without distinct private portions.
M#
Majority — See Simple, Absolute, Reinforced, Special.
Absolute majority — > 50% of total votes (not just those present). Distinct from "reinforced majority" (art. 1097).
Reinforced majority — Majority of co-owners representing 3/4 of the votes (art. 1097).
Special majority — 90% of votes (art. 1098) or unanimity (art. 1099).
Minutes — Official document recording meeting decisions. Retained in perpetuity.
N#
Notice period — Minimum time between sending the convocation and the meeting. 21 days for AGM, 8 days for second convocation.
P#
Common portions — Parts of the building belonging undivided to all co-owners: roof, corridors, foundations, green spaces.
Private portions — Parts of the building belonging exclusively to one co-owner: the interior of the apartment.
Proxy — Mandate by which an absent co-owner authorizes another person to vote on their behalf.
Q#
Quorum — Minimum votes present or represented for a meeting to deliberate validly. Default: 51%.
R#
Relative value (fraction) — Percentage of a unit's value relative to the building total. Determines contribution to expenses and voting weight.
Resolution — Decision made by the meeting, recorded in the minutes.
Rules of the immovable — Part of the declaration that governs use of private and common portions (noise, pets, parking, etc.).
S#
Scrutineer — Person appointed by the meeting to count votes.
Secretary — Board role responsible for drafting minutes and official correspondence.
Self-insurance fund — Reserve covering the building insurance deductible (Bill 16 requirement).
Syndicate — Legal person comprising all co-owners (art. 1039 CCQ). Responsible for maintenance and administration.
T#
Treasurer — Board role responsible for accounting, budget, and financial oversight.
Syndic+ vocabulary#
Administrator (better-auth owner) — User with full rights in a syndicate.
Limited administrator (better-auth admin) — User with most rights except team management and billing.
Audit log — Record of every sensitive action (login, edit, delete).
Cache components — Next.js 16 optimization to speed up pages.
CAI — Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec. Supervisory authority for Bill 25.
Dashboard — Main administrator interface.
JWT (JSON Web Token) — Authentication token format used for the API.
MCP (Model Context Protocol) — Open protocol letting AI assistants (Claude, Cursor) call the Syndic+ API.
NEQ — Numéro d'entreprise du Québec. Unique identifier for your syndicate at the Quebec enterprise registrar.
Passkey — Biometric authentication (Touch ID, Windows Hello, YubiKey).
PIA — Privacy Impact Assessment (required by Bill 25 for new projects involving personal data).
Portal — Interface for co-owners (non-administrators) to consult documents, payments, requests.
Privacy Officer (DPO) — Mandatory role under Bill 25.
RGCQ — Regroupement des gestionnaires et copropriétaires du Québec. Reference association.
Scope — Permission granted to an OAuth integration (e.g. read:co-owners).
Soft delete — "Reversible" deletion — the entity is marked deleted but can be restored for 30 days.
SSO (Single Sign-On) — Unified authentication via Google/Microsoft.
Tenant — Technical term for a syndicate (= better-auth organization).
TOTP (Time-based One-Time Password) — 6-digit 2FA code regenerated every 30s by an authenticator app.
Webhook — Automatic HTTP notification sent to an external URL when an event occurs (payment received, meeting created, etc.).