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Contracts & agreementsSigning the agreement

Signing the agreement

The service agreement is a legal contract. Association agreements (APCHQ and AIBQ, both editions) are signed online in the client portal, with the same proof as the quote; the inspection prerequisites (AIBQ form, or Lumos’s generic form for APCHQ) are signed the same way. This page describes that journey, and the fallbacks (Acrobat, printing) if a client prefers them.

How Lumos prepares the agreement

When you click Generate in the Document Center (① of the inspection’s journey), Lumos creates the agreement PDF as a draft:

  • Pre-filled with your identity (business, affiliations, numbers), the client’s (name, address), the property (address, type), the inspection date, and the amount.
  • As a PDF — one to several pages depending on the template (the AIBQ pre-filled form is typically seven pages, for example).
  • With possible annexes that you checked (Annex B Divided co-ownership, performance attestation).

Nothing is sent yet.

Sending the agreement for signature

Under ② Send and signatures, tick the agreement (and the quote, the prerequisites or any other mandate document to send at the same time), then click Send for signature. You review the email, built on your quote template, then one email goes out — with no attachment — with the Open my client portal button. The client signs in their portal, in any order. The paper plane icon on the document’s row remains available to simply send the PDF as an attachment, without online signing.

If the project has a co-client with an email address, the email window shows a Signatures requested line with both names: the co-client’s box is ticked by default. They then receive their own email and their own portal to sign the agreement (see Multiple clients). Untick it for the primary client to sign alone.

How the client signs in the portal

  1. They read the agreement, displayed in full in their portal (or open it in a new tab). The PDF is frozen at that first opening: what they read is exactly what they will sign.
  2. They tick that they have read the agreement and consent to signing it electronically.
  3. They retype their email address (the one the agreement was sent to).
  4. They type their initials: Lumos applies them in the initials boxes your association provides and at the bottom of every page.
  5. They draw their signature (or pick Type my name) and validate.

Lumos then fills the primary client’s signature, name and date boxes, flattens the form so it can no longer be edited, and appends a certificate page: signer, retyped address, IP address, browser, opening and signing times, SHA-256 fingerprint of the document. The client downloads their copy right away and finds it again in their portal.

You receive a Lumos email with the sealed copy attached; the client receives theirs in your branding — one email per signed document.

The inspection prerequisites (AIBQ, APCHQ)

If you generated the inspection prerequisites with the agreement, they also show under To do in the portal with a Sign button. Before the signature, a Your preparations step asks the client what they accept:

  1. Access — they make sure the areas to examine will be accessible (required).
  2. Power interruption — accept or refuse.
  3. Activating appliances in the owners’ absence — accept, or refuse for some appliances, saying which and why (the “Appliances not to activate and reasons” field is always visible; required when refusing).
  4. If applicable — co-ownership syndicate and tenants informed.

Their answers are ticked in the form. On the AIBQ form, a refusal also puts their signature on the line provided for it; on the generic form (APCHQ), there are only accept / refuse boxes and a single signature at the bottom of the page. The rest of the journey (consent, email, initials, signature, sealed copy) is identical to the agreement.

Fallbacks — Acrobat or printing

Some clients prefer to sign offline. Send the PDF with the paper plane icon in that case:

  • Acrobat Reader (free): Fill & Sign, then return by email. Preview on macOS, Microsoft Edge or a mobile app work too.
  • Printing: handwritten signature, then scan, photo or hand delivery.

Then keep the signed version you receive (upload it to the project’s Document Center) and confirm receipt with the client before the visit. Lumos does not automatically archive an offline return.

The signed agreement should ideally be in your possession before the visit. In case of disagreement or litigation, it is this document that proves the conditions were accepted. If exceptional circumstances force you to inspect before signature, document the context and obtain the signature as soon as possible.

Status displayed in Lumos

The Agreement pill of the inspection card and the Center’s journey go through draft, sent (or viewed once opened in the portal) and signed on …. An agreement with two signers reads signed 1/2 while a signature is missing. A sent document can no longer be ticked: the next step becomes Remind. The activity feed records the opening for signature and the signature (actor “client”). An agreement sent only as an attachment stays sent: upload the signed return into the Center when it arrives.

What Lumos keeps

For the legal value of the signature (Quebec’s LCCJTI): the frozen copy of the PDF, the initials, the signature image, the retyped address, the IP address, the browser, the times and the SHA-256 fingerprint, recomputable from those elements. The custom agreement (written in Lumos) is no longer offered: only association agreements are signed online.

Special cases

Multiple clients (couple, indivision)

When the agreement involves two clients (a buying couple, for example), add the second one as the project’s co-client (project form, with their email address). When you send for signature, each receives their own email and their own portal; they sign in any order, each for their part (“Client 1” and “Client 2” of your association’s form).

While a signature is missing, nothing is sealed: the first signer sees “Signed by you — awaiting the co-client” in their portal, and the Center’s journey reads signed 1/2 with one line per signer (Remind the one still missing). As soon as the second signature is in, Lumos seals a single copy carrying both signatures, both sets of initials and a certificate describing both signers; each receives it by email and finds it in their portal, and you receive yours.

Two fallbacks, on the co-client’s line in the journey: Remove cancels their request (the agreement completes with the primary client’s signature; if it is already there, sealing is immediate); Add …‘s signature appears when the agreement went to the client alone and the project has since gained a co-client with an email. Only the agreement is signed by two: the quote and the prerequisites stay with the primary client.

Remote client

If the client is abroad or unavailable before the visit, signing in the portal from their phone remains the fastest route. The signature can also be made by a designated representative (notary, broker, parent) if a power of attorney provides for it — discuss with the client if in doubt.

In-person signature on inspection day

If a prior signature could not be obtained, some inspectors have the agreement signed on site before starting the inspection. This is not ideal practice (the client could not read the agreement at leisure) but remains a last-resort option.

See also

Last updated on
Agreement annexes and optionsThe quote and its online signature