‘Living in fear’: N.S. senior among those calling for end to fixed-term leases

The group Atlantic ACORN is calling for the province to ban landlords from only offing fixed term leases to tenants. 

Margaret Anne McHugh thought she was lucky finding a $1,600 a month apartment in Halifax.

However, it’s on a fixed-term lease, meaning both the start and end dates are set out in the tenancy agreement. Unlike periodic leases such as month-to-month or year-to-year, fixed-term leases are not automatically renewed.

She and others who live in her building worry they may be forced out at the end of their terms.

“We are living in fear,” she said. “Seniors who’ve worked all our days and living not in poor quality apartment buildings, nevertheless can be thrown out and put into a situation where we cannot afford our rentals because we’re on fixed incomes.”

McHugh was among a small group protesting in downtown Halifax on Thursday, a few blocks from the Nova Scotia legislature.

The group Atlantic ACORN is calling for the province to ban landlords from only offering fixed-term leases to tenants.

“The practice has become commonplace in the province since the temporary rent cap was passed because it allows landlords to end leases and circumvent the rent cap. It leaves tenants with very little rights,” ACORN said in a release.

ACORN goes on to say that it has found “at the end of the term, landlords do not offer lease renewals, instead increasing rental rates for the new tenants.”