Rental operators facing possible closures as N.S. regulations change

The Nova Scotia government is changing the rules for short-term rentals to add more supply to the housing market, but some operators say the move will put them out of business.

“It cripples us, to be very frank,” says Blake Smith, who has been renting a one-bedroom unit of the basement of his Bedford home with his wife for nearly five years.

Under the new rules, the room either has to go or be turned into a long-term rental unit.

“Our revenue loss would be drastic. We make family financial decisions based on the revenue we know that is coming in annually and monthly,” Smith says.

Smith says past experiences with a tenant who caused $10,000 worth of damage and left him with months of unpaid rent has soured him against the idea of switching to long-term rentals.

“We have not had this happen with Airbnb based on the two-way rating system. They rate us, we rate them. We haven’t had any issues with people who have been renting our place. It’s been wonderful. I could say in the past four years we’ve only had two people who were a little noisy, that’s it,” he says.

Catherine Sanderson, board member with the Short Term Rental Association of Nova Scotia, says the majority of operators do so on a very small scale and can’t afford to shut their doors.

“There’s a study that was done by McGill University that says the property owner who rents out short-term rental in Nova Scotia owns only on average 1.2 properties,” says Sanderson.

The Halifax Regional Municipality is making changes as well, particularly around zoning. Sanderson says that will force even more closures and impact the tourism industry. She says a survey conducted by city staff shows millions of dollars be lost if the majority of short-term rentals shut down.

“It indicated that they had surveyed about 3,000 tourists and about 18 per cent of them said they would never have come to Nova Scotia except for the availability of family-friendly, affordable, short-term rentals,” she says.

Provincial regulations come into effect Sept. 30.

For more Nova Scotia news visit our dedicated provincial page.