Nova Scotia proposes extending five per cent rent cap until 2027

Nova Scotia introduced a bill Friday to extend the province's rental cap which currently sits at five per cent per year.

The temporary rent increase cap, originally scheduled to expire at the end of 2025, would be in place until Dec. 31, 2027, according to the proposed bill.

“The low vacancy rate in Nova Scotia is creating challenges when it comes to the availability and the choice for tenants to decide where they want to live and how they want to live,” said Service Nova Scotia Minister Colton LeBlanc. “While our government continues to work to create more housing across the spectrum, we have to protect Nova Scotians.

“Despite the record number of new builds across the province, demand is still outpacing supply. The answer to the rental market challenges is more housing. We need to keep up the pace of building more homes until tenants have more choice.”

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“We’re also making changes to address rental arrears eviction timelines, problem tenants and sublets, and we’ll continue to keep a close eye on the rental market and on the needs of tenants and landlords in Nova Scotia.”

Changes also made to the rental arrears eviction timelines will align Nova Scotia with other Canadian provinces, allowing landlords to begin the eviction process after three full days of lapsed rental payment. Tenants would then have 10 calendar days to pay their rent or dispute the eviction.

Nova Scotia currently has the longest eviction timelines in the country, with landlords required to wait 15 days after rent is late to file an eviction notice. Tenants are then given another 15 days to pay their rent in full or dispute the eviction notice.

NDP leader Claudia Chender was critical of the announcement, saying it was a “sad day” for the 300,000 renters across the province and calling the rent cap extension useless.

“I don’t think anyone is benefitting these changes,” said Chender. “We have a five per cent rent cap in name only.”

Chender said the province needs to close the loop on fixed-term leases, which leaves renters vulnerable to higher rent increases.

The NDP brought forward their own legislation, proposing when any fixed-term lease ends it would then transition into a month-to-month lease agreement if the tenant wished to remain at the lease site.

Liberal MLA and housing critic Braedon Clark said transitioning fixed-term leases into month-to-month leases makes sense and suggested Friday’s announcement made no difference for renters in Nova Scotia.

“It doesn’t seem obvious to me if anything will change for the better,” Clark.

The province said it didn’t know how many renters have signed on to fixed-term leases, as they don’t currently have a rental registry to track that information.

“Nobody can say with certainty what those numbers are,” said LeBlanc.

Clark says that kind of data should be kept as it would help inform laws and better protection for renters.

“We don’t know how many people out there are on fixed term leases and we don’t know how many are being renewed or how many are resulting in new rentals, which are likely hundreds of dollars more expensive,” said Clark.

Other amendments made to the Residential Tenancies Act include:

• New, clearer conditions for when landlords can end a tenancy, such as criminal behaviour, disturbing another tenant or the landlord, repeated late rent payments, or extraordinary damage to the unit.
• Prohibiting tenants from subletting their unit for more rent than they are currently paying for it.
• Permitting the province to publish all or part of the residential tenancies director’s orders issued after a hearing.
• New requirements for landlords to provide email addresses if their tenants also provide them.
• Establishing a common anniversary date for land-lease communities for changing or implementing rules, and posting rules in an area that is accessible by all community tenants.

Nova Scotia first introduced a two per cent rent cap in November 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic forced many people away from their jobs, making it difficult to make ends meet. In February 2022, that rent cap was extended to Dec. 31, 2023.

Beginning Jan. 1, the province’s rent cap increased to five per cent, where it remains today.

For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page.