Some to pay more, others to pay less as N.S. changes short-term rental fees

People who list Nova Scotia properties on short-term rental platforms such as Airbnb and VRBO will need to register those rentals and pay an annual fee starting Sept. 30, but those fees won’t be the same as the ones unveiled last fall.

The change will see homeowners who rent space inside their primary residence pay $50 a year, up from the $10 annual fee proposed last October.

The per-unit fees charged to other operators will vary depending on where in Nova Scotia their properties are located, with short-term rental operators in the Halifax area paying the most: $2,000 a year. That figure is down from the $3,600 annual fee floated last fall. 

John Lohr, Nova Scotia’s housing minister, told reporters Wednesday the change reflects what other provinces and states are charging for similar operations.

“There was extensive consultations done and there was an extensive jurisdictional scan across North America,” said Lohr. “We’re already, at the $2,000 level, near the highest in Canada.”

Asked if $3,600 was too steep a price, Lohr responded, “Well I think so, I mean there’s a feeling that we can always go up. We didn’t want to backtrack.”

The province has said it hopes the fees will help make more long-term housing available, particularly in the Halifax core.

The new three-tiered system announced Wednesday will also see short-term rental operators outside the capital region pay $500 annually for every unit that is not a part of their primary residence. Those who have rental units in Clark’s Harbour, Digby, Lockeport, Mulgrave and Shelburne will be charged $240 a year, per unit.

Lohr said the fee would be significantly lower in those five areas because they are “very small communities and very rural areas of Nova Scotia.” He said the fact that those communities are all in Tory-held provincial constituencies was a coincidence.

Who will enforce the rules?

Operators who don’t register or follow the rules could be fined up to $100,000.

When it comes to cracking down on those operators, the province is still on the hunt for a private company to do most of that work.

Tatiana Morren-Fraser, executive director of housing strategy and analytics, said the department is hoping to find a company in time for the Sept. 30 registration deadline.

“We’re going to do our best,” said Morren-Fraser. “We’re hoping to issue the RFP [request for proposals] later this week if we possibly can, and then maybe have a contract in place by the end of the month.”

There are currently more than 7,000 short-term rentals registered with the province. 

A key goal for the Houston government is to encourage those who lease units to put them back on the long-term rental market, but Lohr said his department wasn’t sure just how many operators would do that because of the new rules.

“We know that this will cause some short-term rentals to return back to long-term rentals,” said Lohr. “Precisely how many is the subject of internal debate. We really don’t know.”

Operators will need to register again before the end of September.