Minister has no plans to address so-called fixed-term lease loophole

Michael Gorman · CBC News

· Posted: May 15, 2025 2:28 PM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

Nova Scotia's curate liable for the Residential Tenancies Act denies her authorities is providing landlords with a mode astir the provincial rent cap, but she also confirmed Thursday determination are nary plans to bash thing that would assistance forestall the maltreatment of fixed-term leases.

Jill Balser told reporters pursuing a furniture gathering successful Halifax that the headdress connected rent increases created disruptions to the lodging marketplace and her authorities doesn't privation to marque immoderate different changes that could further impact proviso astatine a clip erstwhile vacancy rates are showing signs of improvement.

"For america astatine this constituent successful time, the absorption connected proviso is changing the lodging market," she said.

"So knowing that Nova Scotians volition person prime is truly our focus."

'Now they person options'

Balser said renters are opening to person much choices astir wherever to live, with immoderate landlords offering incentives to motion a lease arsenic the vacancy complaint increases successful immoderate cases.

"If a peculiar portion is not wherever they privation to beryllium oregon possibly it's a lease that they don't needfully privation to sign, present they person options and that's truly the situation and the spot that we privation to get to."

It's important that radical inquire questions and cognize what they're getting into earlier signing a lease, said Balser. For radical who find themselves successful a concern wherever they deliberation the rules are being broken, the residential tenancies programme is determination to help, she said.

The provincial rent headdress applies to a portion arsenic agelong arsenic a tenant with a periodic lease lives there. When they determination out, rents tin beryllium adjusted supra the 5 per cent cap.

However, determination is simply a prevailing interest among lodging advocates that immoderate landlords are switching tenants to fixed-term leases due to the fact that it is easier to determination those tenants retired for a caller tenant, for whom the headdress would not apply.

Interim Liberal Leader Derek Mombourquette said determination is nary crushed for the authorities to proceed to let maltreatment to hap without immoderate benignant of response.

"I don't bargain this thought that determination are these unforeseen circumstances if they don't close this," helium told reporters.

"They could enactment connected this, they could enactment a batch of radical crossed this province, and they won't."

NDP lodging professional Susan Leblanc said Balser's mentation for wherefore her authorities volition not code concerns astir fixed-term leases "doesn't marque immoderate sense."

"People travel into my bureau each azygous time disquieted astir getting evicted oregon not being capable to find a spot to unrecorded erstwhile their fixed-term lease runs out. So the government's absorption does not look to beryllium connected them," she told reporters.

"I don't cognize wherever it is, but we request to absorption connected the radical who are astir vulnerable."