Publication

"1851. Lease is a contract by which a person, the lessor, undertakes to provide another person, the lessee, in return for a rent, with the enjoyment of movable or immovable property for a certain time.
The term of a lease is fixed or indeterminate.
1991, c. 64, a. 1851; I.N. 2014-05-01.

1852. The rights resulting from the lease may be published.
Publication is required, however, in the case of rights resulting from a lease, with a term of more than one year, of a road vehicle or other movable property determined by regulation, or of any movable property required for the service or operation of an enterprise, subject, in the latter case, to the exclusions provided by regulation; the rights may be set up against third persons from the date of the lease provided they are published within seven days. A lease with a term of one year or less is deemed to have a term of more than one year if, by the operation of a renewal clause or other covenant to the same effect, the term of the lease may be increased to more than one year.
The transfer of rights under a lease requires or is open to publication, according to whether the rights themselves require or are open to publication. 1991, c. 64, a. 1852; 1998, c. 5, s. 8; I.N. 2014-05-01; 2023, c. 24, s. 168; Erratum (2024) 156 G.O. 2, 755.

71 On a bankruptcy order being made or an assignment being filed with an official receiver, a bankrupt ceases to have any capacity to dispose of or otherwise deal with their property, which shall, subject to this Act and to the rights of secured creditors, immediately pass to and vest in the trustee named in the bankruptcy order or assignment, and in any case of change of trustee the property shall pass from trustee to trustee without any assignment or transfer.

R.S., 1985, c. B-3, s. 711997, c. 12, s. 672004, c. 25, s. 44"

Lefebvre (Trustee of) ("Daimler-Chrysler"); Tremblay (Trustee of) ("GMAC"), [2004] 3 R.C.S. 326

Leasing (Crédit-bail) The rights of ownership of the lessor are enforceable as against the lessee whether or not the rights are published. The lessor's rights have effect against third parties only if they have been published; effect against third parties operates from the date of the leasing contract provided the rights are published within 15 days [article 1847]. As well, the transfer or assignment of the lessor's rights has effect against third persons only upon publication. In the case of a leasing contract, the Civil Code of Quebec does not specify the consequences of failure to publish or of publication beyond the 15-day delay. While there are two prevailing opinions on this issue, the stronger argument appears to be that ownership rights that are not published cannot be opposed to third parties; rights that are published beyond the delay will be opposable from the date, hour and minute of publication. In the event of a bankruptcy, different rules may apply. In Lefebvre (Trustee of) ("Daimler-Chrysler"); Tremblay (Trustee of) ("GMAC"), [2004] 3 R.C.S. 326, the Supreme Court of Canada was asked to determine whether the ownership rights of the lessor, which had been published beyond the 15-day delay and after the bankruptcy of the lessee, were opposable to the trustee in bankruptcy. The Supreme Court held that a lease is not a "security device" within the meaning of the Civil Code of Quebec, in the sense that the lessor's ownership rights do not arise in virtue of publication. A lease does not cause a transfer of ownership between the lessor and the lessee and the property remains in the lessor's patrimony. Thus, the vendor's rights against the purchaser are enforceable whether or not they are published. As the trustee in bankrupt steps into the shoes of the lessee, the Supreme Court held that a trustee in bankruptcy is not a third party for the purposes of publication. Accordingly, the Supreme Court of Canada held that the lessor's rights of ownership may be set up against the trustee even though they were not published prior to the bankruptcy. Although this decision was based on facts which involved a long-term lease, the lessor's ownership rights under a leasing agreement will most likely be the same, namely, they will be opposable to a trustee in bankruptcy whether or not they are published prior to the bankruptcy. Lease (Louage) The rights of ownership of the lessor are enforceable as against the lessee whether or not the rights are published. As against third parties, a lease with a term of more than one year affecting moveable property that is used for the operation of an enterprise must be published [article 1852]. The lessor's rights against third persons operate from the date of the lease provided they are published within 15 days. A lease with a term of one year or less is deemed to have a term of more than one year if, by the operation of a renewal clause or other covenant to the same effect, the term of the lease may be increased to more than one year. The transfer of rights under a lease requires publication, according to whether the rights themselves require publication. In the event of a bankruptcy, the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in Lefebvre (Trustee of) ("Daimler-Chrysler"); Tremblay (Trustee of) ("GMAC") [2004] R.C.S. 326 will apply [see "Leasing"]. Instalment Sale (Vente à tempérament) The vendor's reservation of ownership is enforceable as against the purchaser whether or not the reservation is published. However, the vendor's title must be published in order to be opposable to third parties; effect against third parties operates from the date of the sale provided the reservation of ownership is published within 15 days [article 1745]. As well, the transfer or assignment of the vendor's reservation of ownership must be published. The Civil Code of Quebec contains rules regarding the effects vis-ˆ-vis third parties of not publishing, or of late publication of, the vendor's reservation of ownership [article 1749]. In 2001, the definition of "secured creditor" in the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act was amended to include a vendor under an instalment sale contract [Federal Law-Civil Law Harmonization Act, No. 1, S.C. 2001, c. 4, sections 25-28]. This amendment has been interpreted by the Supreme Court of Canada [Ouellet (Syndic de) [2004] 3 R.C.S. 348] as converting the reservation of ownership in an instalment sale into a "security" for the purposes of a bankruptcy. Furthermore, in the opinion of the Supreme Court, the protection of the vendor's reservation of ownership vis-ˆ-vis a trustee in bankruptcy would thus be subject to the publication requirement. Quebec authors do not concur with this conclusion, and it remains to be seen whether it will be followed by Quebec courts.