N.S. rent cap should have been more targeted: Property owners group

Kevin Russell believes the province’s approach should have targeted landlords who were significantly increasing rent

CITYnews\Chris Halef

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Landlords and property owners continue to voice their concerns with the province’s legislation that implements a residential rent cap for the next two years.

Last month, the Tim Houston’s Progressive Conservative government introduced legislation that limits rental increases to two percent until Dec. 2023.

This has drawn criticism from Kevin Russell, executive director of the Investment Property Owners Association of Nova Scotia, who said it will hurt small landlords who are facing higher insurance costs and other expenses.

He told CityNews Halifax he believes the province’s approach should have targeted landlords who were significantly increasing rent.

“The rent increases that were considered egregious were of a small few landlords,” he said. “They should have been targeting those landlords and find ways to deal with that, not the broader base industry which has been professionally managing properties throughout their careers.”

Russell said the roughly 5,000 small landlords in the province are trying to figure out how they will be able to survive over the next two years.

“The decision to extend the cap will push small rental owners out of the business,” said Russell. “I’m already receiving emails telling me they’re putting their units on the market.”

Premier Houston has previously said he was sympathetic to smaller landlords, but added he would not increase the cap.