🗞 Are fixed-term leases fair?

HOUSING

Fixed-term leases that let Nova Scotia landlords avoid rent cap rules are popular and legal, but are they fair?

When Bridget moved into her north end Halifax apartment in late 2020, she thought it would be her final long-term stop until she could afford a home of her own. She settled in over the next three years. Living close to Fort Needham Park, with its wooded trails and views of the Narrows, she could walk to the shops in the Hydrostone. Trees canopied the neighbourhood streets, filled with clapboard bungalows and modest post-war homes.

“I moved [here] six months into the pandemic,” Bridget says, speaking by phone with The Coast. “This was a place where I found a lot of security at a time that was really uncertain.”

She did what she could to preserve it. She paid her rent on time. Lived quietly. Had a good relationship with her landlord and property management company—or so she believed. That changed, she tells The Coast, with a single email. This April, Bridget received a notice from her property manager: Rather than extending her fixed-term lease, as her landlord had done for two years running, she would need to leave her apartment by Aug. 31.

The notice came as a surprise to Bridget. Suddenly, she found herself re-entering a rental market with historically low inventory and soaring rental rates. So, too, did tenants of nearly 60 other rental units across the HRM who shared the same landlord, The Coast has learned.

It’s not a unique situation in Halifax. It’s not an illegal one, either—no rules or bylaws were broken in Bridget’s eviction. But it’s one that affordable housing advocates and MLAs alike have been calling on Nova Scotia’s government to put a stop to in the midst of a province-wide housing crisis. And as The Coast’s Martin Bauman reports, it’s an issue that has sparked debate between tenants, landlords, property managers and politicians about who’s responsible for solving the region’s housing woes.

Need to know

📞 Need to report damage in the HRM caused by Lee? You can call 311 or email the municipality at [email protected].

🌳 As clean-up continues around the city here are the guidelines for disposing of tree waste and other yard materials.

🦠 Hospitalizations and PCR-positive tests are up in Nova Scotia’s most recent COVID-19 report.

🥾 Due to weather-related damages to the trail bridges, Brookline Trailhead Park is closed until further notice.

🏐 S|E|A & Garrison Brewing are proud to welcome the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour to the Salter Lot on the Halifax Waterfront, September 21-24!*

*Sponsored Post

The results are in

SPONSORED BY LIVE ART DANCE

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Live Art Dance and Prismatic Arts Festival presents Bboyizm’s vulnerable and physically impressive show: In My Body

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On The Coast

SPONSORED BY AFTERWORDS LITERARY FESTIVAL

Fun for Kids at AfterWords

Kids ages infant to 12 are invited to the first-ever Kids’ Day/Journée jeneusse Saturday, November 4, 1pm-4pm at Halifax Central Library. Meet Sydney Smith. Sal Sawler, Emma FitzGerald, Jack Wong, Wanda Taylor, Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail, Fabien Melanson and more. Free registration is open now.

In other news

🌀 CBC spoke to local business owners about Lee’s impact.

😥 Halifax author and disability activist, Jen Powley, has died.

🚨 A Halifax teen was charged with stunting yesterday after being caught driving 158km an hour on Highway 102.

📚 The award-winning book, The Hate You Give, was recently removed from the province’s curriculum. CBC explores why the decision was made with the Department of Education.

🐟 Lee threatened to put a damper on the start of a Nova Scotia couple’s happily ever after but thanks to a local fish processing plant, their magical wedding day was still made possible.

🌕 Nocturne is looking for volunteers for this year’s festival happening Oct. 12-15. You can sign up here.

👀 The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation has turned to a 1970s tax shelter for answers on how to deal with the ongoing rental crisis.

💊 As we enter cold and flu season Health Canada is reviewing whether or not Phenylephrine, a decongestant in medications like Sudafed and DayQuil, is actually effective. This comes after the American government released a report on the matter.

🧑‍🎨 Applications are now open for East Coast Artisans’ annual festive show happening at the Truro Farmers Market on Dec. 1.

WEATHER

PHOTOS: See Halifax after post-tropical storm Lee

Deals

🧼 Halifax Laundry Co., at 5572 Cornwallis Street, is offering free Nellie’s Clean soap with every load.

💇‍♀️ K-beauty Salon Halifax is offering students 10% off every Monday and Wednesday.

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