'We're scraping the bottom of the barrel': Tenants search for reasonable rental units in Halifax

Abby Tucker has been on a hunt for a new apartment for months but keeps coming up empty.

She and her boyfriend want to move into their own place together, but getting the right rental within their budget is proving tricky.

Rents are higher than she’s ever seen and the demand is “crazy,” she says.

“When you find a really good deal, there's 15 people in line ahead of you, and if you can't go see the apartment today, good luck,” said Tucker.

During her search, she says she's come across landlords asking for things they shouldn't be under law.

“Lot of application fees, so definitely a struggle with that, also two and a half months rent seems to be something that they're asking for a lot lately,” says Tucker.

In a city where the vacancy rate is around one per cent, Mark Culligan of the Dalhousie Legal Aid service says these rental conditions can open the door to bad landlords.

“When the market is tight, tenants lose all their consumer power,” says Culligan.

As someone who helps with tenancy disputes, he says it’s important for people looking for rentals to know their rights.

“We're seeing a lot of leases out there where landlords are effectively trying to say they're not responsible for things that they're legally responsible for, like pest control, or they're being discriminatory,” he says.

Tucker's lease doesn't end until September, so she still has time. She says she considers herself fortunate for that, and also for the fact that she has a decent budget.

But she, and others, are concerned about anyone who may not be in the same situation.

Leigh MacLean is a housing support worker with Welcome Housing in Halifax, which helps people find an affordable place to live.

“What we’re seeing now is dual, full-time income families, seniors,” says MacLean.

She’s commonly worked with people who are chronically homeless. But lately, her list of people in need has grown, while she says their options have not.

“We see units that we would have never encouraged folks to take five years ago, with landlords we would never encourage folks to rent from,” she says, “we're really scraping the bottom of the barrel here.”

For her, the solution lies in more affordable housing.

“We need serious investment in non-profit housing,” she says, “and if we’re going to make agreements with private property owners…we have to come up with ways that it benefits everybody.”