By Keith Doucette

Gary O’Toole, affiliate deputy minister of Service Nova Scotia, instructed the legislature’s group providers committee that earlier than any adjustments could be made, the division wants to know the long-term affect.

“Definitely we’re conscious anecdotally via our conversations with landlords and tenants that fixed-term leases are getting used inappropriately,” O’Toole stated. However he added that such leases, which permit for leases shorter than a 12 months, are precious to tenants in sure circumstances.

“We all know that they assist in conditions the place somebody is right here briefly for work or pupil housing or any variety of different conditions,” he stated. When requested by reporters he was unable to offer an instance of an unintended consequence the federal government is attempting to keep away from.

Not like a periodic lease, a fixed-term lease doesn’t routinely renew past its set finish date. The provincial lease cap covers periodic leases and conditions during which a landlord indicators a brand new fixed-term lease with the identical tenant, however it doesn’t cowl fixed-term leases with new tenants.

O’Toole famous that the federal government must keep in mind inflationary prices and the emptiness fee, which he stated has risen during the last 12 months from one to 2 per cent.

Heather Clark, chair of the Halifax chapter of housing advocacy group ACORN, instructed the committee that based on a 2024 report by her group, evictions had elevated 466% since 2021 via the usage of fixed-term leases.

“Solely two out of 243 individuals (surveyed) on a fixed-term lease wanted a short-term rental. The rest wished long-term lodging,” Clark added.

Nevertheless, division official Melissa Mosher stated it’s onerous to get a transparent image as a result of there aren’t any provincial statistics to trace the usage of fixed-term leases. The division would wish to have a registry of all tenants and landlords within the province, she stated.

Final fall, a lot of landlords defended the usage of fixed-term leases earlier than one other legislature committee, saying it helped them recoup prices within the face of the federal government’s five-per-cent cap on lease will increase.

Mark Culligan, of Dalhousie Authorized Help, stated the federal government’s stance doesn’t make any sense, telling reporters that the usage of fixed-term leases quantities to a “handout” to landlords. Culligan additionally stated he doesn’t suppose the present housing disaster goes to go away any time quickly.

“The federal government stored saying the emptiness fee has elevated to 2 per cent, however a wholesome emptiness fee needs to be between three and 5 per cent,” he stated.

The opposition NDP tabled laws in March that may give tenants on fixed-term leases the choice of extending on a month-to-month foundation in the event that they need to stay.

“I don’t suppose the measures which might be in place proper now are robust sufficient to do the work that must be achieved to ensure that us to guard tenants and landlords,” stated NDP committee member Suzy Hansen.

Liberal Chief Iain Rankin stated it’s clear the federal government needs to offer landlords “a manner across the lease cap.”

“The leverage is (with) the owner and the federal government needs it that manner,” he stated.

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Final modified: Could 7, 2025