Québec water case law 11: obligations under a commercial lease and the cost of a well

(BY HUGO)

In Agritex (Ste-Martine) ltée c. 9049-1135 Québec inc. (Propane du Suroît) (in French), a counter-claim in contractual liability is made to recover the costs incurred by a commercial lessee further to the drying up of an existing well serving the leased property and the sinking of a new well. The tribunal awards the damages based on the commercial lessor's failure to respect the obligations: i) to provide the lessee with peaceable enjoyment of the leased property throughout the term of the lease; and ii) to warrant the lessee that the property may be used for the purpose for which it was leased and to maintain the property for that purpose throughout the term of the lease (section 1854 of the Civil Code of Québec).

In this case, the costs related to an industrial user's access to water are allocated to the user's lessor through the law of contracts. This case illustrates the transversal nature of water law accross traditional legal silos.