Edson Castilho says his 70-year-old mother got a notice from her landlord last fall that her fixed-term lease would be terminated without renewal in August.
He says she’s been living in her apartment in Halifax’s north end for three years to be closer to her family.
According to Castilho, every tenant in the eight-unit apartment got the same notice.
“So she left,” he says. “And the day after, or two days after, her apartment was listed for $1,800, so a 50 per cent increase in rent.”
“I’m angry … rents are unaffordable in the city. It’s people who are renting, people who are on fixed incomes like my mom.”
Castilho says his mother has been living with him temporarily, but worries about finding her a permanent place to live.
“I know for certain that she will not be able find something within her budget in the area where she wants to live, which is close to us,” he says.
“We're seeing a lot of whole buildings just completely switch over to fixed-term leases,” says Dalhousie Legal Aid Worker Joanne Hussey.
Hussey estimates more than half of their residential tenancy caseload involves fixed-term leases right now.
She says the problem is that if a tenant signs one, the landlord can legally choose to terminate it in the time allowed, with little recourse for the renter.
“I think what we're seeing is the fixed-term leases being used as a way to essentially evict people for no reason. And then people will see their units advertised for triple, triple the rent that they're paying,” says Hussey.
Hussey would like to see the province change legislation to address the issue.
“We know that landlords and tenants have said that fixed-term leases are useful in certain situations,” she says. “British Columbia made it only legal to use those fixed-term leases only in those situations.”
The B.C. government made that change back in 2017, closing what it called a “loophole” that was being used to “bypass annual rent control.”
At the time, the head of the province’s Tenant Resource and Advocacy Centre said the priority was “eliminating fixed-term tenancies with vacate clauses.”
On Wednesday, the province's minister of service Nova Scotia, Colton LeBlanc, said he isn’t making any commitments.
“We're looking at a number of ways to improve and modernize the residential tenancy program,” says LeBlanc. “But again, we also recognize the intended purposes of fixed-term leases.”
When asked about the future of the rent cap, which is currently set to expire Dec. 31, LeBlanc also didn’t get into specifics.
“There are a number of ongoing discussions regarding the existing cap, and we’ll have more to say to Nova Scotians in the future,” he says.
Meanwhile, the head of the group representing income property owners in the province says he’s only heard anecdotal evidence of the problem and wants to see hard numbers.
“We’re hearing the reports that it’s happening, but we don’t know how widespread it is or how large the problem is, that would be very important to gauge,” says Kevin Russell.
“Without fixed-term leases, a lot of renters would not secure tenancies, so it's important to maintain them."
Castilho is now wondering how he will find a home for his mother in a city where the vacancy rate for affordable housing is below one per cent.
