Aug 12, 2025
Dealing with unreasonable landlords can be a nightmare as a tenant, but for a group of Halifax renters, their problem is on a different level. Late last year, a number of tenants in Halifax apartments owned by PreCor Property Management received eviction letters with no reasons given. The tenants began to band together to support one another — including Amanda Rose — even creating an email chain to share support.
While some of the tenants fought the letters’ legality and won, others began to face renoviction notices — a notice to evict a tenant to perform renovations on a property. Rose has been living in her affordable apartment for over six years and received a notice in February, she told CBC News. It stated that she would be evicted to perform necessary renovations which included removing asbestos, though no proof of asbestos in the unit was given.
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Rose was skeptical about the validity of the claims. She felt the landlord was targeting renters that had been in the company’s properties the longest and wanted to improve the properties to rent them out at a higher rate. So she had her own testing done, which returned no positive results for asbestos.
Rose and another tenant took their complaints to Nova Scotia’s Residential Tenancy Program (RTP) to resolve the dispute. The board ruled in their favour, with the order stating that the landlord’s “actions appear to be an attempt to displace lower-paying tenants, make cosmetic upgrades, and subsequently re-rent the units at higher rates,” the news outlet reported.
What are renovictions and are they legal?
Under Nova Scotia’s Residential Tenancies Act, a landlord is allowed to end a rental lease to renovate their unit so long as the upgrades are serious enough to require a building permit and the unit to be empty.
If these stipulations are met, a landlord and tenant can reach a written agreement to end the lease. During this time, however, the tenant is required to be given three month’s notice of the eviction and are entitled to be compensated. According to law firm Burchell MacDougall Lawyers LLP, this amount can be between one and three months’ rent depending on the size of the unit and other factors.
Similar laws exist across Canada. For example, in Ontario, tenants have the right to 120 days notice before renovations can occur. Once completed, they also have the right to move back into the renovated unit at the same rate as before. Landlords that don’t follow Ontario’s tenancy laws can face serious fines.
While there are protections for Canadians in multiple provinces who may be encountering unfair renovictions, how exactly can they utilize their legal rights to fight back?
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Advice for renters facing unfair renovictions
If you’re starting at a renoviciton notice, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed, especially if your landlord is a large corporation. Here’s what you can do if the notice seems unfair according to a guide from the Nova Scotia RTP.
- Collect evidence to prove the renoviciton isn’t following guidelines: To bring your dispute before the Residential Tenancies Program, you’ll need evidence backing up your claim that the renovictions aren’t necessary or fair. As per Legal Info Nova Scotia, you can contest renovictions if you think the landlord is not acting in good faith, if you did not receive sufficient notice, if no written agreement was reached or if the landlord does not properly compensate you.
- Submit Form J to the RTP: Outline the issue along with all the evidence you’ve collected. You may also be required to pay a small fee.
- Attend a hearing by phone to hear the order given: During the hearing, you will be asked to present the evidence you have supporting your complaint and will be asked follow up questions. The landlord will also have an opportunity to present their evidence and follow-up as required. If you successfully dispute the renoviction notice, the RTP director will dissolve the notice of renoviction and you can stay in your home. You may be awarded any costs incurred by disputing the notice.
What to look for in a renoviction agreement
In some cases, you may have to leave the premises for fair and legal renovictions to occur. In these cases, you must reach a written agreement with your landlord beforehand. Here’s what it should include:
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- Proper format: The RTP has a designated Form DR5 that is used to terminate a lease agreement for the purposes of renovations. Make sure this form is used, as it clearly outlines all the requirements that need to be met to protect you as a tenant.
- Fair compensation: Make sure the agreement outlines exactly how much compensation you will receive for your time out of the unit, whether in money or by being given access to a similar unit during the renovations.
- Proper notice: Check that sufficient notice of three months’ time is written on the agreement, otherwise the renoviction isn’t legal.
Being a tenant can come with some risks, but many of them can be mitigated by being informed and observant. Renovictions are no different.
Sources
1. CBC News: Halifax tenants in 'precarious housing situations' band together to fight renovictions, by Nicola Seguin (Jul 14, 2025)
2. Burchell MacDougall Lawyers LLP: Understanding Renovictions in Nova Scotia
3. Nova Scotia RTP: Guide Resolving Disputes (Apr 2025)
5. Nova Scotia: Guide Form J: Application to Director
6. Nova Scotia: Guide Form DR5: Agreement to Terminate for Demolition, Repairs or Renovations
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Brett Surbey is a corporate paralegal with KMSC Law LLP and freelance writer who has written for Yahoo Finance Canada, Success Magazine, Publishers Weekly, U.S. News & World Report, Forbes Advisor and multiple academic journals. He and his family live in northern Alberta, Canada.
