What Should be Included in a Lease

Contact Information

The contact information for your property owner or a property manager should be included. This contact information should include after hours (4PM – 8AM) contact information for emergencies (floods, electrical/breaker issues, etc.). There is a legal obligation for property owners to include their (or their property managers) name, a physical address, and phone number on the lease.

Property Occupants

All occupants should be included on the lease. This includes all individuals who will be living in the unit, even those who may not be responsible financially for the space (children/youth).

Included aspects

Everything that is included in your rent payments should be outlined. For example, if your rental includes appliances, parking, and all utilities, it needs to say all three aspects on the lease. All the included aspects are covered by your rent and the property owner is responsible for providing it for you.

Inspection details

All details on inspection should be attached to the lease. You should do an inspection just prior to moving into your space, if you did not get an opportunity to do an inspection that should also be outlined on the lease. It is important to ask for an inspection if not already provided, and not sign a lease for a space you haven’t seen in person.

Property Specific Rules

All property rules that are reasonable are permitted to be included in the lease. These are usually outlined in Section 17 of the Standard Form of Lease and are titled Statutory conditions and reasonable rules. These rules must be consistent between everyone in the building, and must relate to the well-being of tenants, be within the law, and relate to the well-being of the building. All these conditions and reasonable rules must be attached to the lease.

Pets are often included under this section of the Standard Form Lease. It is important to know that emotional support animals are not a protected right under the law in Nova Scotia. Only certified Service Dogs are a protected right in Nova Scotia and are exempt from rulings related to pets under Section 17.

Some examples of reasonable rules are:

• No nails or screws for mounting, only 3M, Tape, and other wall safe adhesives may be used.
• Building quiet hours are from 11PM – 8AM Daily.
• No smoking inside the building or within 15 feet from entrances and windows.
• Cats are permitted, but no dogs or other pets.

Some examples of unreasonable rules:

• Only locally purchased and manufactured lawn chairs may be permitted on the property.
• Your neighbor is permitted to have a pet cat, but you are not permitted to have a pet cat.
• You may only decorate your patio for July 1 – July 30.

A note on pets

As mentioned in previous sections, in Nova Scotia property owners have the legal right to add a rule to not permit pets, allow only certain sized pets, certain animals, or only allowing pets in specific areas. The only exception to this is Certified Service Dogs under the Nova Scotia Service Dog Act. The property owner may update rules to disallow pets, but if there are already pets in the building they are grandfathered in, which is another way to say allowed to stay, but no new pets are permitted. If you sign a lease that says no pets, and you bring a pet in, you are in violation of your lease and could be evicted for breaching the lease. If you have a lease that says no pets, you must receive a signed, written amendment to your lease to allow for you to bring in a pet. As rules have to be equal throughout the building property owners may not make exceptions for you, as then the building itself would have to permit pets.

A note on smoking

A property owner is allowed to make rules related to smoking in the building, like no smoking inside, only smoking on balconies, and not during the day. Similarly, to rules related to pets, if you have a lease that says no smoking, you must receive a signed, written amendment to your lease to permit smoking on a balcony, or otherwise. If smoking is permitted by the lease, you need to ensure your smoking does not interfere with another tenant, under Nova Scotia Law second-hand smoke can be considered interference of another tenant it is the property owners’ responsibility to ensure they resolve interference.

A note on cannabis

Cannabis smoking is considered with smoking rules by the property owner. Property owners have the right to create reasonable rules related to cultivation and recreational smoking. This can include limited or prohibiting cultivation and/or smoking in the unit, or permitting a limited number of plants, or hours for recreational smoking. The only exception to this rule is related to medical cannabis usage, which is protected under the Nova Scotia Human Rights Act.