Nova Scotia gives you two families of lease, and most Halifax owners pick one out of habit rather than on the merits. The choice sets how the tenancy ends, how you raise the rent, and how much control you actually have — and two of the rules run opposite to what landlords generally assume.
For the rent rules themselves, see our Nova Scotia rent cap guide and the step-by-step on how to raise the rent. This page is about the lease underneath them.
The two families
Periodic leases run week-to-week, month-to-month, or year-to-year. Under section 10A(1) of the Residential Tenancies Act they continue for the same type of term automatically if no notice is given — they are "deemed to have been automatically renewed." Every periodic tenant has security of tenure: section 10(3A) says a landlord "shall not give to the tenant a notice to quit residential premises except in accordance with this Section," and the grounds listed there are narrow.
Fixed-term leases are defined as a lease "entered into for a fixed period of time, which includes the day of commencement and the day of termination stated in the lease." A fixed term ends on its end date. Neither side serves notice; there is no automatic renewal, and no long-term security of tenure. Whether to offer another lease is the landlord's call.
What actually differs
| Year-to-year | Month-to-month | Fixed-term | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Renews automatically? | Yes | Yes | No — ends on the stated day |
| Tenant's notice to end | 3 months before the year ends | 1 month before the month ends | None — it just ends |
| Landlord's notice to end | Only on statutory grounds | Only on statutory grounds | Not needed at term end |
| Security of tenure | Yes | Yes | Only until the end date |
| How rent increases work | 4 months' written notice | 4 months' written notice | Must be written into the lease |
Two rows in that table do most of the work, and they're the two owners most often get wrong.
"Security of tenure" doesn't mean you're stuck
The reason many Halifax owners reach for a fixed term is fear — that a periodic lease means a difficult tenant forever. It doesn't. The Act gives you specific exits, and they cover the situations that actually worry people:
- Non-payment. Once rent is three days late you can serve notice to quit effective ten days later (s.10(6)).
- Repeated late payment, serious interference, illegal activity, or extraordinary damage. You apply to the Director for an order terminating the tenancy (s.10AF — added in 2024).
- Breach of the statutory conditions on cleanliness, damage, or disturbing other occupants — fifteen days' notice (s.10(7B)–(7C)).
- You or a family member need the unit. The Director can order possession, effective up to twelve months out (s.10(8)(f)).
- Demolition or major renovation, with the permits already in hand — an order for vacant possession three to twelve months out (s.10AB). Compensation is owed: three months' rent in a building of more than four units, one month's rent in a building of four or fewer (s.10AC).
- Sale to an individual who will live there, in a complex of four units or fewer — two months' notice, with the purchaser's sworn affidavit (s.10AA).
What a periodic lease denies you is ending a tenancy for no reason. For a paying, respectful tenant, that costs you nothing.
Trap 1 — the month-to-month conversion
Here is the rule that catches people. Section 10A(2):
A fixed-term lease ends on the day specified in the lease and, if a tenant remains in possession with the consent of an owner, the lease is deemed to have renewed itself on a month-to-month basis.
So the "no security of tenure" feature of a fixed term is not permanent — it lasts until the end date and no further. Let the tenant stay on with your consent and you have not extended the fixed term; you have created a month-to-month periodic tenancy, with full security of tenure, that you can now only end on statutory grounds.
Key takeaway: A fixed-term lease is a decision with a deadline. Before the end date you either paper a new lease or you don't — drifting past it converts the tenancy to month-to-month by operation of law.
Note the wording: "with the consent of an owner." If the tenant stays on and you haven't consented, the conversion doesn't happen — but you're then dealing with an overholding tenant and applying to the Director for possession, which is slower and messier than simply deciding on time. Consent can also be inferred from conduct, so continuing to accept rent after the end date is not a neutral act.
In practice, that means a diary entry three to four months before every fixed-term end date. If you intend to continue with the tenant, decide which lease type you're continuing on and sign it.
Trap 2 — you cannot raise rent mid-term unless the lease says so
For a periodic lease, a rent increase is a notice: four months' written notice stating the amount and effective date for year-to-year and month-to-month tenancies (eight weeks for week-to-week), once in any twelve-month period.
A fixed-term lease works completely differently. Section 11(3):
In the case of a fixed-term lease, the lease shall indicate the amount and effective dates of any increases and in no case shall the rent be increased to a tenant more than once in a twelve-month period.
There is no mid-term notice mechanism. If you sign a two-year fixed term and the lease says nothing about increases, the rent is fixed for two years — you cannot serve a notice partway through to fix it. Owners who like fixed terms for the certainty often don't realise the certainty runs both ways.
One rule applies to every lease type: no increase at all during the first twelve months of a tenancy, whether it's week-to-week, month-to-month, year-to-year or fixed-term.
Trap 3 — you cannot price the two lease types differently
A tactic that circulates among landlords is offering a discount for signing a fixed term, or quoting a higher number for year-to-year. Section 11(2B) closes it:
A landlord shall not give a notice of rent increase that provides for a different rent increase amount if the lease is renewed for a different type of term.
The lease type is the tenant's choice to make without a price attached to it.
A year-to-year lease is not locked in from your side
Owners sometimes choose year-to-year believing it commits the tenant for a year. It doesn't, in either direction. Under section 10A(3) a tenant may convert a year-to-year lease to month-to-month by giving written notice either three months before the anniversary date, or three months before the effective date of a rent increase. And section 10A(4B) adds that once they do, you cannot charge more than the year-to-year rent would have been.
A rent increase actually opens two doors for a year-to-year tenant. As well as converting to month-to-month, section 10AE lets them end the tenancy outright — notice to quit at least three months before the increase takes effect. So serving an increase on a year-to-year tenant hands them a window either to drop to month-to-month at the same rent, or to leave.
Year-to-year gives you a longer tenant-side notice period (three months instead of one), not a commitment.
The rent cap applies either way
Whichever lease you use, the 5% cap applies to the same tenant — including when you sign a new fixed-term lease with an existing tenant for the same unit. The cap runs through December 31, 2027.
What isn't capped is a genuinely new tenancy after a unit turns over. That is the real distinction, and it's why the fixed-term lease sits at the centre of Nova Scotia's rent debate: it's the lease type that lets a landlord decline to renew and re-let at market. It remains legal as of 2026, and the province has so far chosen not to change it — but see what happens when the cap expires in 2027 for where this is heading.
So which should you use?
Our honest read, as people who manage these tenancies:
Use a periodic lease (year-to-year or month-to-month) as the default for a good tenant. In Halifax's low-turnover market, a paying, settled tenant is the asset. Periodic leases renew themselves, the four-month notice route gives you a clean annual increase mechanism, and you avoid the conversion trap entirely.
Use a fixed term when the tenancy genuinely has an end date — a unit tied to an academic term, a furnished let while you're posted away, a property you will move into on a date you already know. Where the end date is real, the fixed term simply describes it.
But don't reach for a fixed term "in case I need to sell or move in." Those routes already exist on a periodic lease — s.10AA for a sale to an owner-occupier in a building of four units or fewer, s.10(8)(f) for your own or a family member's use — and a fixed term can actively slow the sale route down: s.10AA(3)(b)(iii) says that where the tenancy is a fixed-term lease, the notice can take effect no earlier than the stated end of the term. A month-to-month tenant can be given two months' notice under that section; a tenant fifteen months into a two-year fixed term cannot.
Think hard before using fixed terms as a churn strategy. Cycling tenants out at term-end to reset rent is legal today and it is also under active political scrutiny. Beyond that, the arithmetic is often worse than it looks: turnover costs you vacancy weeks, cleaning, marketing, screening and a re-let at a price the softening top end of the Halifax market may not support. A 5% annual increase on a tenant who stays five years frequently beats one big reset plus two months empty.
Before you decide, it's worth knowing the actual number: a free rental analysis tells you what your unit would ask today against live Halifax comps, so the fixed-term-versus-periodic question becomes arithmetic instead of a guess. If you want a fuller picture of the gap first, see what your Halifax property could rent for.
A practical checklist
- Name the term type on the lease. Nova Scotia's Standard Form of Lease (Form P) has you identify the tenancy type — week-to-week, month-to-month, year-to-year or fixed-term. Don't leave it ambiguous; it decides every rule above.
- Diary every fixed-term end date three to four months ahead, so the month-to-month conversion never happens by accident.
- If you use a fixed term and want increases, schedule them in the lease — amount and effective dates — remembering the once-per-twelve-months limit and the first-year freeze.
- Never quote different rent for different lease types.
- Remember the tenant's conversion right on year-to-year, especially in the three months after you serve a rent increase.
- Keep the signed lease and proof of service. In any dispute at the Residential Tenancies Program, the paperwork is the case.
This guide explains the Nova Scotia Residential Tenancies Act as consolidated to October 3, 2025, including amendments through 2025, c. 19. It is general information for Halifax and HRM landlords, not legal advice — check the current Act and the Residential Tenancies Program's guides, or get advice, before acting on a specific tenancy.
Want the number for your actual unit?
A guide gives you the market. A free analysis gives you the range for your specific Halifax property, based on current local asking rents.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a fixed-term and a year-to-year lease in Nova Scotia?
A year-to-year lease is a periodic lease: it renews automatically unless proper notice is given, and it carries security of tenure, so a landlord can only end it on specific statutory grounds. A fixed-term lease runs between a stated start and end date and simply ends on that date — no notice is required from either side, and there is no automatic renewal or long-term security of tenure.
Does a fixed-term lease automatically become month-to-month in Nova Scotia?
Yes, in one specific situation. Section 10A(2) of the Residential Tenancies Act says a fixed-term lease ends on the day stated in it, but if the tenant remains in possession with the owner's consent, the lease is deemed to have renewed itself on a month-to-month basis. So a fixed term you let run past its end date without re-papering becomes a periodic tenancy with full security of tenure.
Can I raise the rent during a fixed-term lease in Nova Scotia?
Only if the lease itself says so. For a fixed-term lease the Act requires the lease to state the amount and effective dates of any increases, and rent still cannot rise more than once in a twelve-month period. There is no mid-term notice mechanism — unlike a year-to-year or month-to-month lease, where you serve four months' written notice. If a two-year fixed term contains no increase schedule, the rent is fixed for two years.
Can I charge more for a year-to-year lease than a fixed-term lease?
No. The Act prohibits giving a notice of rent increase that provides for a different rent increase amount depending on whether the lease is renewed for a different type of term. Offering a lower rent to a tenant who signs a fixed term, or a penalty rate for choosing year-to-year, is not permitted.
Can a tenant switch from a year-to-year lease to month-to-month?
Yes, and unilaterally. A tenant may change a year-to-year lease to month-to-month by giving written notice at least three months before the lease anniversary, or at least three months before the effective date of a rent increase. The landlord cannot charge more for the month-to-month arrangement than would have been payable under the year-to-year lease.
Does the 5% rent cap apply to a fixed-term lease?
Yes, for the same tenant. Signing a new fixed-term lease with an existing tenant for the same unit is still capped at 5%. The cap does not apply when a unit is re-let to a genuinely new tenant after turnover — that is a new tenancy, not a renewal.
If I use a periodic lease, how do I end a tenancy with a bad tenant?
Through the grounds the Act provides. Rent three days late lets you serve notice to quit effective ten days later. For repeated late payment, serious interference with other occupants, illegal activity or extraordinary damage, you apply to the Director for an order terminating the tenancy under section 10AF. Breaches of the statutory conditions carry fifteen days' notice. What a periodic lease prevents is ending a tenancy for no reason — not removing a tenant who has given you one.
Do I need a fixed-term lease if I might sell the property?
Usually the opposite. Section 10AA lets a landlord of a complex with four or fewer units end a tenancy on two months' notice when an individual purchaser or their family will occupy it, and that route works on a periodic lease. Where the tenancy is a fixed term, the same section says the notice cannot take effect earlier than the stated end of the term — so a fixed term can delay a sale rather than protect it.