Landlords sign on to Halifax’s new rental registry, tens of thousands of units listed
Kevin Russell, the executive director of the Investment Property Owners Association of Nova Scotia, questioned the usefulness of the registry “maintaining that the municipality should focus on better enforcement of its existing housing bylaws before creating new ones.”
The deadline for landlords in the Halifax Regional Municipality to register their rental properties has come and gone, with tens of thousands of units now catalogued under a long-awaited new bylaw.
The municipality said 10,360 registrations have been received so far, representing 66,590 rental units. Since the April 1 deadline, no landlords have been fined for failing to comply with the mandatory registry.
Brynn Budden, a spokesperson for HRM, said staff are using an education-based approach when landlords fail to register.
“When staff learn of a property that is not registered, they open a line of communication with the property owner,” Budden said in an emailed statement.
“To date, staff have not experienced a property owner simply refusing to register.”
The rental property registry comes more than four years after Halifax regional council greenlit the idea, with the bylaw to create the framework passed last April. . …[Continue Reading]