The front lines of housing support in Nova Scotia are raising concerns over the upcoming end of renoviction bans.
“Lifting this ban is going to have an immediate impact on the number of clients seeking service from emergency service providers, no doubt about it,” Kevin Hooper with United Way Halifax said during Tuesday’s standing committee on community services.
The renoviction ban is one of two renter protections the province implemented as a direct result of the pandemic, and will be lifted when the state of emergency is.
The temporary rent cap will remain in place until the end of December 2023.
Kevin Russell, with the Investment Property Owners Association of Nova Scotia, says recent amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act are key to understanding both tenant and landlord rights, especially when it comes to requirements a property owner must meet in order to be issued a permit for a renovation that requires a tenant to vacate.
“There is a process in place. The tenant must get a notice from the landlord three months in advance that a major renovation is going to occur and that the tenant would have to vacate the building,” Russell said.
He says permits will only be granted for major renovations, not standard maintenance upgrades like painting or floor repairs.
“It does require that the renovation is major. A landlord will go in and basically take the building back to its studs and rebuild it from inside out. So, it’s a major renovation that makes the unit inhabitable for living and so that’s the reason behind why tenants have to leave the building,” he said.
Russell says stripping an older building back to its studs for major renovations is more or less a niche market that the majority of property owners have no interest in.
He says the temporary rent cap is discouraging people from investing in properties when stock is needed the most.
“We’re seeing smaller landlords actually exit the business, particularly landlords who own properties that are single-family homes. And, those are disappearing and going back to single-family ownership, rather than remaining as rentals,” Russell said.
Russell said a recent survey conducted by the Investment Property Owners Association of Nova Scotia (IPOANS) suggests roughly 9,000 units are at risk of being sold because of the two per cent rent cap, creating market uncertainty during a time of soaring inflation costs.
Meanwhile, those on the front lines of housing support say increasing demand for limited housing supply will translate to any renoviction project and will push people into emergency housing situations.
“This is going to add a lot of challenge to an existing crisis,” Hooper said.
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