COVID-19
On March 22, 2020, the province declared a state of emergency because of COVID-19. Several changes were made to accommodate the state of emergency with regards to renting, including a three month ban on non-emergency evictions between March 19th-June 19th, 2020, and a temporary ban on renovictions.
Additional changes were made to the process to show and view apartments. If a landlord is selling their building, tenants could refuse entry to a real estate agent or potential buyers because of concerns around COVID-19 infection, and landlords were required to get consent to bring someone into a unit. Tenants could also refuse in-person viewings but needed to allow a landlord and one other person to enter their unit to do virtual showings.
These policies are no longer in effect, and a landlord can show a unit so long as they give appropriate notice. For more on this, see Landlord Rules.
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If you are sick, or otherwise concerned about COVID-19 and exposure to illness, you can try talking to the landlord to request people mask during showings - or arrange to be out of the unit.
If your concerns around COVID-19 are due to a medical condition, or you are otherwise high-risk, you could possibly ask for accommodations under the NS Human Rights Act.
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A landlord cannot impose restrictions on guests or the freedom of movement of tenants because of COVID-19 beyond what is detailed in the state of emergency guidelines. Even if these restrictions are meant to promote the health & safety of tenants. (Parnell v. Melville Heights Retirement Living, 2021 NSSM 35)
If a landlord issues a notice to tenants that a rent increase will not take effect because of COVID-19, the landlord cannot reinstate that rent increase in the future in addition to other rent increases. Even if the original increase was credited from the tenants’ rent instead of reversed. (Reid v. Hazel View Properties Inc, 2022 NSSM 19)
