Liberals would tighten rent cap, create fund to help renters 

Nova Scotia Liberal Leader Zach Churchill announced Tuesday the party would help renters with immediate rent relief, tighter rent control and restrictions on fixed-term leases.  

A Liberal government would help struggling renters by creating “a provincial rent bank providing quick zero-interest loans to help renters get back on their feet,” Churchill said. 

The British Columbia NDP government introduced a rent bank in 2019 to help renters avoid eviction and falling deeper into poverty.  

A Liberal government would “tie the rent cap to inflation, market condition and vacancy rates,” said Churchill.  

He said the NDP’s proposal of a 2.5 per cent rent cap “simply doesn’t go far enough for renters or our housing market,” and that the current five per cent rent cap introduced by the Progressive Conservative government is “arbitrary.” 

Ontario and British Columbia, for instance, have residential rent caps below Nova Scotia’s at 2.5 and three per cent respectively. Churchill said Nova Scotia has “the highest rent cap in the country.” 

Churchill said the Liberals would prevent landlords from offering fixed-term leases longer than one year and any extensions beyond the fixed term would transition leases to month-to-month.  

He said the current Progressive Conservative government refused “to close the fixed term lease loophole, allowing rental increases to be some of the highest in the country.” 

The NDP have also promised to close fixed-term lease loopholes in their platform. 

Churchill further proposed “a residential tenancies enforcement unit so both tenants and landlords have a place to turn for proper dispute resolution.”  

“We have a goal in our housing plan to ensure that no Nova Scotian should have to pay more than 30 per cent of their income on housing.”

The previous Liberal government set rental supplements to be given to those paying more than 30 per cent of their income on rent.

The Progressive Conservatives raised that threshold to 50 per cent and later lowered it to 40. Churchill said he wants to bring the threshold back to 30 per cent.