Halifax tenant blindsided after lease isnt renewed, landlord cites business strategy [Video]

A Halifax tenant is calling for more restrictions around the use of fixed-term leases after hers wasn’t renewed – a decision the rental company said was necessary based on its “overall business strategy.”

Sarah Mosher and her wife have been living in a one-bedroom apartment in a small multi-unit complex on Oxford Street for more than five years, but they will soon have to move after their landlord decided to end their fixed-term lease.

“They had no complaints…. We’ve been good tenants the whole time,” Mosher said. “It’s mainly, I believe, because they want to raise the rent more than five per cent.”

Unlike periodic leases – such as month-to-month or year-to-year – fixed-term leases have fixed start and end dates, meaning they are not automatically renewed.

Critics have decried fixed-term leases as a “loophole” for landlords to get around the province’s five per cent rent cap, as rent increases do not apply to new tenants.

On March 11, Mosher’s …