By Keith Doucette
Service Nova Scotia Minister Jill Balser informed reporters following a cupboard assembly Thursday that her division is monitoring traits and desires to keep away from disrupting the housing provide as emptiness charges look like enhancing. The federal government has mentioned the province’s emptiness fee has risen over the past yr to 2 per cent from one per cent.
“An unintended consequence is that we wouldn’t need to see something that’s going to influence provide,” mentioned Balser.
Nonetheless, she didn’t specify how the housing provide can be affected, below repeated questioning by reporters.
“We now have seen the misuse of fixed-term leases and this can be very disappointing, however once more our focus has at all times been on provide,” she mentioned. The minister confused that it’s essential for individuals to know what they’re entering into earlier than signing a lease.
“For individuals who discover themselves in a scenario the place they suppose the foundations are being damaged, the residential tenancies program is there to assist,” mentioned Balser.
However the Opposition NDP and Liberals each mentioned Balser’s clarification for not performing doesn’t make sense.
Interim Liberal chief Derek Mombourquette has advised the federal government needs to provide landlords a loophole to get across the 5 per cent cent cap that’s in place till the top of 2027, a cost Balser denied as “not true” on Thursday.
“I don’t purchase this concept that there are unexpected penalties, I simply don’t,” mentioned Mombourquette. “There’s an apparent drawback that’s impacting renters throughout this province … and the federal government will not be performing on it.”
NDP caucus chair Sue Leblanc mentioned addressing an issue that enables landlords to jack up lease past the cap will not be a authorities precedence.
“Individuals come into my workplace each single day nervous about getting evicted or not with the ability to discover a place to reside when their fixed-term lease runs out,” mentioned Leblanc. “The federal government’s focus doesn’t appear to be on them … we have to concentrate on the individuals which can be most susceptible.”
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 through which a landlord indicators a brand new fixed-term lease with the identical tenant, nevertheless it doesn’t cowl fixed-term leases with new tenants.
Final fall, various landlords defended using fixed-term leases earlier than a legislature committee, saying it helped them recoup prices within the face of the federal government’s lease cap.
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Atlantic housing provide Jill Balser landlords liberals ndp Nova Scotia Regional rental market The Canadian Press
Final modified: Might 16, 2025