Real estate broker, Plateau-Mont-Royal

Schools

The Centre de services scolaire de Montréal has fourteen elementary schools in the borough. Three stand out for their program: Le Plateau, for its music training, with an admission test, and the alternative schools Arc-en-Ciel and Élan. At the high school level, Jeanne-Mance offers an international education program with no admission test, and Robert-Gravel is dedicated to drama.

In English, the English Montreal School Board has two schools on Saint-Urbain Street: Bancroft, a bilingual elementary school, half in English and half in French, and MIND, an alternative high school. The arts school FACE has had its elementary section on Christophe-Colomb Avenue since 2025. If a school is driving your choice, check its territory before you make a promise to purchase.

Parks, recreation and culture

La Fontaine Park is 40 hectares in the middle of the neighbourhood: four skating rinks in winter, two cross-country ski trails, tennis courts, soccer and baseball fields, and the Théâtre de Verdure. Jeanne-Mance Park, at the foot of Mount Royal, and Sir-Wilfrid-Laurier Park, with its outdoor pool, are the two other main gathering places.

The borough has 83 parks, squares and green spaces, two libraries, including the Mordecai-Richler library in Mile End, and a maison de la culture with free admission. The Aréna des Patineuses, in Mile End, was renovated from 2024 to 2026, and the City is redesigning Baldwin Park with a new 50-metre outdoor pool.

Getting around and shopping

Three stations on the metro’s Orange line serve the Plateau: Sherbrooke, Mont-Royal and Laurier. The Réseau express vélo bike path runs along Saint-Denis Street, separated from cars and open year-round, and the borough has more than a hundred BIXI stations.

Here, you shop on foot. Mont-Royal Avenue and Duluth Avenue become pedestrian streets in summer, Prince-Arthur Street is one year-round, and the borough has close to 3,000 businesses, from Laurier Avenue to Saint-Laurent Boulevard. Three neighbourhood farmers’ markets set up in season: Laurier, Saint-Louis and Baldwin.

Before you buy here

The Plateau protects its housing, and that changes what you can do with a plex. The planning by-law prohibits merging or subdividing a dwelling, and reducing the number of dwellings in a building. The only exception goes through a request to the borough council, to remove a single dwelling in a duplex or a triplex. If your plan is to turn a plex into a house, let’s talk about it before the promise to purchase.

The same caution applies if you plan to live in a unit that is already rented. According to the Tribunal administratif du logement, undivided co-owners can repossess a dwelling only if there are two of them and they are spouses, the process starts only once the sale is completed, and some tenants aged 65 and over are protected. How you buy therefore decides whether you will be able to live there.

Facades are protected too. You need a permit to redo a staircase, doors, windows or cladding, and the borough requires you to follow the original model. As for parking, you cannot create a new space on your lot in most sectors: if the property has one, ask the seller for proof of its acquired right.

The area in a few facts

Le Plateau-Mont-Royal brings together several neighbourhoods: the Plateau, the Mile End, Milton-Parc, Petit Laurier and the Plateau Est. Close to 106,000 people live here on 8.1 km², one of the densest areas of Montréal.

This is plex country. In the 2021 census, 81% of occupied homes were in a duplex or a building under five storeys, and single-family houses were only 2.5% of the housing stock. The borough writes that every building, even the most modest, contributes to its architectural richness.

Saint-Laurent Boulevard, the Main, has been a National Historic Site of Canada since 1997. The Plateau-Mont-Royal library faces Mont-Royal metro station, and the Mordecai-Richler library is in the former Church of the Ascension on Parc Avenue. Close to 70% of residents get around on foot, by bike or by public transit.

The neighbourhood at a glance

Along with Ville-Marie, the Plateau is the youngest borough in Montréal, with a median age of 34. More than one household in two is a person living alone, and close to three in four rent. Buying a plex here usually means buying with leases in place.

Large homes are scarce: only one in five has three bedrooms or more, and more than half date from 1960 or earlier. Families are more present in the Mile End, where 17% of households have children under 18 (14% for the borough). Milton-Parc, near McGill, stands apart: 60% of its homes are in towers, and fewer than one household in ten owns.

34median age, compared with 39 in Montréal
52%of households are people living alone
72%of households rent

Source: 2021 census, borough of Le Plateau-Mont-Royal.

A few properties I have sold here

Frequently asked questions

Can I combine two units of a plex on the Plateau?

Not as of right. The planning by-law prohibits merging a dwelling and reducing the number of dwellings. The only route is a conditional use request, to remove a single dwelling in a building of two or three units, and it is ruled out if that number has already been reduced.

I am buying a rented plex: can I repossess a unit to live in it?

Yes if you are the sole owner, or two co-owners who are spouses. The process starts once the sale is completed, and notice is given at least six months before the end of a lease of more than six months. Some tenants aged 65 and over are protected. These are the rules of the Tribunal administratif du logement.

Can I rent my home to tourists on the Plateau?

Your principal residence, yes, from June 10 to September 10, for 31 days or less in total, with a City permit to renew each year. A unit you do not live in, only on two commercial stretches of Saint-Laurent Boulevard and Saint-Denis Street. In a condo, the declaration of co-ownership or the syndicate must also allow it.

Can I change my windows or my staircase as I like?

No. You need a permit, and the borough requires you to follow the original features of staircases, doors, windows and cladding.

Where do you park on the Plateau?

On the street, with a resident sticker if the address is in a reserved zone, one sticker per person and per vehicle. On your lot, only if a space already exists: new outdoor parking areas are prohibited in most sectors.

Your project on the Plateau

Most homes here are in plexes and small buildings, and a condo is often one unit of a plex. Before a promise to purchase, we look together at the condition of the building, the stairs and the balconies, and for a condo, its documents and its contingency fund.

From the Mile End to Milton-Parc and Petit Laurier, every corner has its own character: you choose the street as much as the property.

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Useful links

Facts from the City of Montréal, the STM, the Centre de services scolaire de Montréal, the English Montreal School Board, the Tribunal administratif du logement, Parks Canada and the 2021 census.

Le Plateau-Mont-Royal