New changes to Nova Scotia’s Residential Tenancies Act, which the government says will help both tenants and landlords, have officially gone into effect.
According to a provincial press release, Service Nova Scotia Minister Patricia Arab says the amendments are a response to landlord and tenant consultations.
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Among the new changes is the ability for tenants to give notice in order to change their yearly lease to a month-to-month contract.
Tenants and landlords can also now serve documents to each other electronically as opposed to in person.
New rules, rights and responsibilities for subletting and assigning a lease to a new tenant have been included in the act as well.
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Additionally, the act now requires that landlords should state the time and date they want to enter a rental unit when a notice of entry is submitted.
Landlords also now have to store personal property abandoned by past tenants in 30 days instead of 60 days.
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Termination of a lease can now also happen the following month after a single tenant dies, according to another change.
The provincial government says the changes were made to “eliminate unnecessary financial hardship for family of the deceased.”
Amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act were introduced back in September 2018.
—With files from Rebecca Lau