University students forced out of Halifax apartment worry about steep housing costs

Halifax students say their landlord is using a loophole to increase rent rates by not renewing fixed-term agreements. Though legal, it's forcing them out of their affordable units.

Some Dalhousie University students say they’re scrambling to find an affordable place to live.

They say their current landlord is forcing them out of their units in order to rent the spaces at a higher price, a practice the province admits is challenging, but also legal.

“People are just letting landlords do what they want,” says Natalia Boada. “They’re letting them get richer, and not allowing us to be left with anything.”

She’s been living at The Commodore along Oxford Street since 2021. But she and other tenants say they were not given the option to resign a fixed-term lease.

“I don’t think Halifax is a place where I can afford to live as I figure out the next part of my life after school,” Boada says.

Landlords are not required to renew a fixed-term lease in Nova Scotia. They can rent units out to new tenants at higher prices without being subjected to the two per cent rent cap.

Daria Oanes says she learned her lease would not be renegotiated after seeing an ad online showing units in her building listed at about $200 more per month.

“They never explicitly kicked us out,” she says. “They never renewed our lease to be able to increase the rent for that much so we’re just scrambling to find a place to live for next year now.”