The rules in Nova Scotia
- How often it can rise
- Once every 12 months
- Notice you must get
- 4 months in writing
- How much it can go up
- At most 5% each time
The cap is 5% per year from 1 January 2026 and is in effect until 31 December 2027 (it applies when you renew, including on a fixed-term lease for the same unit). It protects sitting tenants only — when a new tenant signs a new lease, the starting rent can be any amount. Week-to-week leases need 8 weeks' notice rather than 4 months.
In the law: Residential Tenancies Act, R.S.N.S. 1989, c. 401, and the Interim Residential Rental Increase Cap Act
Housing costs bite harder in Glace Bay than the headline numbers suggest — Cape Breton University researchers found 30% of Glace Bay and New Waterford residents have housing-affordability problems, about double what federal stats show for the region, and most renters in the informal market say their housing is unaffordable. The rules on how much your rent can go up, and how much notice you must get, are set by the province. This checks an increase against those rules and does the arithmetic for you.
Nova Scotia has a temporary rent cap: from 1 January 2026 rent can rise at most 5% a year, and the cap runs until 31 December 2027. Your landlord must give at least 4 months' written notice (for year-to-year and month-to-month leases), can only raise the rent once every 12 months, and can't raise it at all in your first 12 months.
On a fixed-term lease, any increase must already be written into the lease when you sign it — a landlord can't add one mid-term.