Airbnb and short-term rental rules in HRM's rural plan areas, Nova Scotia
Written by Casa Scotia, a Nova Scotia short-term rental manager. Not affiliated with any municipality or the Province. How we keep our interest out of it →
At a glance
It depends on the plan area and the zone. Outside the plan areas that allow one short-term rental per lot, a whole home must be the operator's primary residence unless its zone allows tourist or commercial accommodation.
Can I?
The home you live in (as HRM’s by-law defines it)Allowed
A home you don’t live inIn some zones
A suite or second unit on the lot you live onIn some zones
In Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia, several rural plan areas have a clause of their own: one dwelling unit per lot may be a short-term rental, whether or not the operator lives there, if the lot meets the rest of the by-law.
They include Shubenacadie Lakes (Fall River, Oakfield), Lake Echo and Porters Lake, Lawrencetown and the Eastern Shore, from Musquodoboit Harbour to Sheet Harbour. HRM's steps and levy still apply: HRM-wide rules. Other areas: HRM guide's plan-area table.
Where this guide applies
Community
What to check
Hubbards
Straddles Municipality of the District of Chester
Which municipality a property is in depends on where its parcel (PID) sits, not on the community name or the mailing address. The property tax bill shows it; either office can confirm it.
A lot's plan area decides, not its community name. Cow Bay, Eastern Passage and the Prestons sit in plan areas listed under What's still being decided, and Beaver Bank, Hammonds Plains and Upper Sackville form a plan area this page doesn't cover.
Which plan area am I in?
The records don’t map communities to the North Preston, Lake Major, Lake Loon, Cherry Brook and East Preston plan area yet. HRM’s zoning map shows a lot’s zone and plan area. Ask Planning & Development: call 311 and ask to speak to a planner, 311, contact page which plan area a lot is in.
Start from the parcel. The lot decides its plan area and zone, so ask HRM's planning contact to confirm both for a civic address or PID: Who to contact. A mailing address can name a community in a different plan area from the lot; see the Hammonds Plains note for one example.
Is a short-term rental allowed here?
Across the unit
The home you live in (as HRM’s by-law defines it)AllowedIn every zone across HRM, provided the dwelling unit is the operator's primary residence.
A home you don’t live inIn some zonesOnly in zones that list short-term rentals as a use, or in a plan area whose land use by-law allows one dwelling unit per lot as a short-term rental.
A suite or second unit on the lot you live onIn some zonesonly as a commercial short-term rental, in a zone that permits one
“53 (1) Short-term Rentals accessory to a residential use shall be permitted in all zones provided that the dwelling unit is the primary residence of the short-term rental operator. | (227.6) Short-term Rental means a dwelling unit, or part thereof, that is used mainly for the reception of the traveling or vacationing public and is provided as temporary accommodation for compensation for a period of 28 days or less. (RC-Feb 21/23;E-Sep 1/23)”
North Preston, Lake Major, Lake Loon, Cherry Brook and East Preston
Under review
Planning Districts 14 & 17 (Shubenacadie Lakes)
The home you live in (as HRM’s by-law defines it)Allowedin any zone, when the unit is where the operator normally lives
A home you don’t live inAllowedone dwelling unit per lot, with no primary-residence test, if the lot meets the rest of the by-law
A suite or second unit on the lot you live onAllowedas the one short-term rental unit on the lot, if the lot meets the rest of the by-law
one dwelling unit per lot under clause (c)
“Notwithstanding a) and b) above, one dwelling unit per lot may be used as a short-term rental, provided all other requirements of the Land Use By-law are met.”
Each by-law here keeps the region-wide clause: an operator may rent the home they normally live in, in any zone. A newer clause sets that test aside for one dwelling unit per lot, so a cottage its owner doesn't live in can qualify if the lot meets the rest of the by-law.
Two points turn on a planner's reading: what counts as a primary residence, which none of these by-laws defines, and whether one lot may carry two rentals, the operator's own home and a suite under the one-per-lot clause. Ask Planning & Development: call 311 and ask to speak to a planner, 311, contact page before relying on either.
What's still being decided
Plan area
What was adopted, and where it stands
Source
Eastern Passage/Cow Bay
The current consolidation (to 27 May 2026) still has only the primary-residence clauses. On 1 Oct 2026 Harbour East - Marine Drive Community Council adopted a clause (c) that allows one dwelling unit per lot as a short-term rental, but only outside the Urban Service Area. The Notice of Approval was posted 2 Oct 2026 with a 14-day appeal window, and no date it takes effect is printed yet. (reported by Harbour East Marine Drive Community Council (staff report of 23 July 2026, Attachments A and B, and the draft minutes of 1 October 2026; the Notice of Approval posted 2 October 2026))
Halifax Regional Municipality · checked 6 Oct 2026 · Reported by Harbour East Marine Drive Community Council (staff report of 23 July 2026, Attachments A and B, and the draft minutes of 1 October 2026; the Notice of Approval posted 2 October 2026)
North Preston, Lake Major, Lake Loon, Cherry Brook and East Preston
The current consolidation (to 2 Feb 2026) has only the primary-residence clauses. On 1 Oct 2026 Harbour East - Marine Drive Community Council adopted a clause (c) that allows one dwelling unit per lot as a short-term rental across the whole plan area. The Notice of Approval was posted 2 Oct 2026, and no date it takes effect is printed yet. (reported by Harbour East Marine Drive Community Council (staff report of 23 July 2026, Attachments A and B, and the draft minutes of 1 October 2026; the Notice of Approval posted 2 October 2026))
Halifax Regional Municipality · checked 6 Oct 2026 · Reported by Harbour East Marine Drive Community Council (staff report of 23 July 2026, Attachments A and B, and the draft minutes of 1 October 2026; the Notice of Approval posted 2 October 2026)
On a phone, swipe the table sideways to see the source.
HRM-wide rules that still apply
Municipal step
Municipal step · Letter
Zoning Confirmation Letter or Development Only Permit
Issued by
HRM Planning & Development, through the online PPLC permitting system
Fee
$200 for the letter; $250 for the permit (one time)
Applies to
Both the home you live in and a home you don’t
Term
The permit doesn't expire and can be reused for later provincial renewals
HRM's step is the Zoning Confirmation Letter or Development Only Permit, and HRM counts a home its operator doesn't live in, including a seasonal cottage, as a commercial short-term rental, which takes the permit. For a whole home rented under the one-per-lot clause, ask Planning & Development: call 311 and ask to speak to a planner, 311, contact page which document HRM issues before applying. What it costs →
Marketing levy
In force
The Halifax Regional Municipality charges a 3% marketing levy on the purchase price of the accommodation, in force since 1 Oct 2023 under By-law M-400, Respecting Marketing Levy.
Who collects it
Airbnb collects it at booking for stays from 1 Sep 2024 (as of 28 Sep 2026)
Vrbo collects it at booking for stays from 1 Oct 2024 (as of 28 Sep 2026)
Booking.com collects it at booking for stays from 1 Oct 2024 (as of 28 Sep 2026)
On direct bookings, you add it to the guest’s bill and remit it (as of 28 Sep 2026)
Remitting it
Monthly to the Halifax Regional Municipality, by the 15th day of the month following the collection of the levy. Remittance portal
Exemptions, in the by-law’s words
“a person who pays for accommodation for which the daily purchase price is no more than Twenty Dollars;”
“a student who is accommodated in a building owned or operated by a post-secondary educational institution while the student is registered at and attending a post-secondary educational institution;”
“a person who is accommodated in a room for more than thirty consecutive days; or”
“a person and the person's family, accommodated while the person or a member of the person's family is receiving medical treatment at a hospital or provincial health-care centre or seeking specialist medical advice, provided the person provides to the operator a statement from a hospital or provincial health-care centre that the person or a member of the person's family is receiving medical treatment at the hospital or centre or from a physician licensed to practice medicine in the Province of Nova Scotia or that the person or a member of the person's family is seeking specialist medical advice and as a result thereof the person or a member of the person's family is in need of and the duration of the accommodation.”
Charged to guests, not an owner cost
The levy and HST (14%) are added to the guest’s bill. HST is charged on the levy as well as on the room: a municipal levy is part of the price HST applies to, and no Nova Scotia marketing levy is on the federal list of levies left out of that price. The By-law M-400, Respecting Marketing Levy charges the levy on the guest’s purchase of the stay; you collect it. The levy is separate from HST, which is a federal and provincial sales tax.
Steps and costs
Check the zone of the lot and confirm the use with Planning & Development: call 311 and ask to speak to a planner, 311, contact page.
Zoning Confirmation Letter or Development Only Permit, from HRM Planning & Development, through the online PPLC permitting system. Details
Residential Rental Registry, from HRM's Registrar under By-law R-400. Details
Register for the marketing levy and remit it on the bookings you collect it on. Details
Renew the Zoning Confirmation Letter or Development Only Permit (The permit doesn't expire and can be reused for later provincial renewals).
Renew the Residential Rental Registry (One-time registration; the registration number can be used when advertising).
Then register each unit with the Province and show the number on every listing. The provincial checklist →
What it costs an owner
Cost
The home you live in
Commercial short-term rental (a home you don’t live in)
Zoning Confirmation Letter or Development Only Permit
$200 for the letter; $250 for the permit (one time)
$200 for the letter; $250 for the permit (one time)
Residential Rental Registry
No fee (one time)
No fee (one time)
Provincial registration
$50 a year
$240 to $2,000 per unit a year, by community tier
First year, municipal and provincial
No total: the Zoning Confirmation Letter or Development Only Permit fee has more than one amount
On a phone, swipe the table sideways to see both columns.
A personal vacation home (a home you don’t live in, kept mainly for your own use; 150 rental days per registration year; an applicant may register only one personal vacation home) registers as a traditional tourist accommodation instead: $50, or $150 with five or more bedrooms a year (Regulations s.2(1), s.14).
The levy and HST are charged to guests, not owners; they are in Marketing levy.
Provincial registration
Register each unit with the Province before advertising it. The first application includes HRM’s land-use document; a renewal doesn’t need it again unless the Province asks.
Fee here: $50 a year for the home you live in; $240 to $2,000 per unit a year for a commercial short-term rental (a home you don’t live in), by the community’s tier; a personal vacation home pays the traditional rate, $50 or $150.
Show the registration number on every listing, and renew by April 1 each year.
Provincial registration in HRM: a commercial short-term rental (a home you don't live in) pays a yearly fee per unit set by its community's tier in Schedule A, tier 1 for seven named communities and tier 2 for the rest. A personal vacation home pays the lower traditional rate, and a primary residence the primary-residence fee.
Source · checked 27 Sep 2026 · Confirmed in source
What we haven't confirmed yet
What Harbour East-Marine Drive Community Council decides after its public hearing on allowing one short-term rental per lot, with no primary-residence test, in Cow Bay outside the serviced area and in North Preston, Lake Major, Lake Loon, Cherry Brook and East Preston. (checked 28 Sep 2026 · source)
Whether the one-per-lot rule adopted for the Eastern Shore (West and East), Lawrencetown, Musquodoboit Valley and Dutch Settlement, and Lake Echo and Porters Lake plan areas covers each whole plan area or only its unserviced parts. In the Shubenacadie Lakes plan area, which includes Fall River, the by-law's clause has no such limit. (checked 28 Sep 2026 · source)
Which communities sit in the Chebucto Peninsula plan area, whose by-law has a one-per-lot clause like St. Margarets Bay. (checked 28 Sep 2026 · source)
How a separate cleaning fee is treated in the levy's base: the by-law's definition of purchase price doesn't mention cleaning fees. (checked 28 Sep 2026 · source)
Can I Airbnb a cottage in Fall River, or only my primary home?
A cottage can qualify: Fall River is in the Shubenacadie Lakes plan area, whose by-law lets one dwelling unit per lot be used as a short-term rental with no primary-residence test, if the lot meets the rest of the by-law. HRM still counts a cottage its owner doesn't live in as a commercial short-term rental, so its permit step comes first. Is a short-term rental allowed here? →Municipal step →
When does the rural short-term rental change take effect where I am?
In the plan areas the land-use section lists, the one-per-lot clause is already part of each by-law. For the plan areas still being decided, ask Planning & Development: call 311 and ask to speak to a planner, 311, contact page on what date the amendment took effect, and whether an appeal was filed. Is a short-term rental allowed here? →What's still being decided →
How do I find out which HRM planning district my property is in?
Ask Planning & Development: call 311 and ask to speak to a planner, 311, contact page to confirm the plan area and zone for a civic address or PID. The community name and the mailing address don't decide it. Which plan area am I in? →
Does a Lawrencetown rental need an HRM permit before provincial registration?
Yes: HRM describes its Zoning Confirmation Letter or Development Only Permit as the land-use document the Province asks for at registration, so HRM's step comes first. For a whole home rented under the Lawrencetown plan area's one-per-lot clause, ask Planning & Development: call 311 and ask to speak to a planner, 311, contact page which of the two documents applies. Municipal step →
Reported by Harbour East Marine Drive Community Council (staff report of 23 July 2026, Attachments A and B, and the draft minutes of 1 October 2026; the Notice of Approval posted 2 October 2026)
Reported by Harbour East Marine Drive Community Council (staff report of 23 July 2026, Attachments A and B, and the draft minutes of 1 October 2026; the Notice of Approval posted 2 October 2026)