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Grandfathered Cottages
Post date: Jun 3, 2026
In many cases older cottages do not respect current shoreline setbacks. In the event of destruction by fire or other catastrophe, there are municipal grandfathered rights that apply to rebuilding.
Attached is Chapter 14 of Municipal Zoning Regulation 113-2025 (including a translation), which outlines the rules for managing grandfathered rights (droits acquis) regarding non-conforming buildings.
If a principal building is non-conforming only regarding siting or setback distances, it can be rebuilt provided that
Reconstruction starts within 12 months.
Any floor-area expansion follows strict extension limits.
If the destroyed building encroached on the shore of a lake, reconstruction must be done outside the shoreline margin, unless impossible to do so while respecting applicable siting standards, in which case reconstruction must be done by minimizing the encroachment on the shore without worsening the initial siting.
The property complies with environmental laws, notably regarding water supply and sewage disposal.
In other words, a cottage that was too close to shore could be re-built on the same footprint only if there is no option to move it further away from the lake due to other setback or siting distances (roads, property lines, well, septic system), i.e., you can't worsen another setback to fix a shoreline setback.
If permitted to rebuild on the same footprint, an owner would need solid evidence of where the building was, e.g., a concrete foundation or building survey.
This is not a substitute for legal advice.