Airbnb and short-term rental rules in Inverness County, 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 zone, and the zone is only the first test. A home you don't live in is permitted only where a zone lists accommodations; in residential and rural zones, only a home-based business in the operator's principal residence.
Can I?
The home you live in (as Inverness County’s by-law defines it)In some zones
The Municipality of the County of Inverness, Nova Scotia, has no short-term rental licence, but its Land Use By-law sets a residence test: in the residential and rural zones, a rental must be a home-based business in the operator's principal residence. Its municipal step is a Development Permit.
The County's rules reach Port Hood, Mabou, Inverness, Chéticamp, Margaree Harbour and Pleasant Bay, but not a town inside its outline: Where this guide applies.
The Town of Port Hawkesbury sits inside the County's outline but is a separate municipality. The village of Inverness is part of the County. This guide doesn't cover Whycocomagh 2, a First Nation reserve. Inverness in Scotland, and the historic county of Inverness-shire, are different places.
Is a short-term rental allowed here?
Across the unit
The home you live in (as Inverness County’s by-law defines it)In some zonesAs a home-based business in the dwelling that is the operator's principal residence: 1 or 2 rental units (Level I) in every zone that permits one, and up to 5 (Level II) in all of those except Residential Centre. The zones that list accommodations also permit it without that test.
A home you don’t live inIn some zonesAs accommodations, a main use, in the Main Street, General Centre, Hamlet Core, Rural Commercial, Highway Commercial and Commercial Recreation zones, and in the Source Water Protection zone up to 3 units per lot. Not in the residential or rural zones.
“Home-based Business means a business activity that is accessory to a dwelling and involves the provision or sale of goods and/or services to the public and where the dwelling is the principal residence of the business operator.”
Land Use By-law (2025) (Municipality of the County of Inverness) · checked 28 Sep 2026 · Confirmed in source
The by-law runs two tests, and the zone comes first. Where a zone lists accommodations, a whole home can be rented as a use in its own right, with no residence test. In the residential and rural zones, the second test is residence, and the home-based business level caps how many units can be rented.
A few zones, such as Institutional and Fishing, list neither route. Which zone a lot is in, and whether a rental fits it, is confirmed through the permit: Municipal step.
Municipal step
Municipal step · Permit
Development Permit
Issued by
Development Officer, through the Eastern District Planning Commission
Under the by-law, changing the use of land or a building is development, which needs a permit first, and accommodation is a use of its own. The Eastern District Planning Commission issues the County's permits. Its fee schedule also lists a zoning confirmation, so ask the Commission which document it issues for provincial registration. Provincial registration →
Steps and costs
Check the zone of the lot and confirm the use with Eastern District Planning Commission (planning and development permits for the County), 902-625-5361, contact page.
Development Permit, from Development Officer, through the Eastern District Planning Commission. Details
Register for the marketing levy and remit it on the bookings you collect it on. Details
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)
Development Permit
$40 development permit fee (one time)
$40 development permit fee (one time)
Provincial registration
$50 a year
$500 per unit a year
First year, municipal and provincial
$90
$540
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.
Marketing levy
In force
The Municipality of the County of Inverness charges a 3% marketing levy on the purchase price of each stay, in force since 1 Jan 2024 under Marketing Levy By-law (44).
Who collects it
Airbnb’s tax page doesn’t list Inverness County (checked 28 Sep 2026). Unless your payout shows Airbnb collecting it, you add and remit it.
Vrbo’s tax page doesn’t list Inverness County (checked 28 Sep 2026). Unless your payout shows Vrbo collecting it, you add and remit it.
Booking.com’s tax page doesn’t list Inverness County (checked 28 Sep 2026). Unless your payout shows Booking.com collecting it, you add and remit it.
On direct bookings, you add it to the guest’s bill and remit it (as of 28 Sep 2026)
Remitting it
Monthly to the Municipality of the County of Inverness, through the ORHMA Levy Reporting Portal, by the 15th of the month after the levy is collected. 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 ($20.00);”
“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 that post-secondary educational institution;”
“a person who is accommodated in a room for more than thirty (30) consecutive days;”
“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 is seeking specialist medical advice, provided the person provides the Operator with the following: i. a statement from a hospital or provincial health-care centre confirming the person or a member of the person's family is receiving medical treatment at the hospital or health-care centre and is therefore in need of Accommodation and confirming the duration of the Accommodation; or ii. a statement from a physician licensed to practice medicine in the Province of Nova Scotia that the person or a member of the person's family is seeking specialist medical advice and is therefore in need of Accommodation and confirming the duration of the Accommodation.”
“a person and the person's family, accommodated while the person and the person's family have been temporarily displaced from their home due to a natural disaster, including high wind event, flood event, fire or other naturally occurring damaging event.”
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 Marketing Levy By-law 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.
For a guest, the levy is a separate line on the bill. For a host, it is money collected at the time of sale and passed to the County, and the by-law requires every operator to register with the County first.
Register each unit with the Province before advertising it. The first application includes Inverness County’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; $500 per unit a year for a commercial short-term rental (a home you don’t live in); 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.
The Municipality of the County of Inverness is in tier 2 of the Province's Schedule A. A commercial short-term rental (a home you don't live in) pays the tier 2 fee per unit each year. A personal vacation home, kept mainly for its owner's use, pays the lower traditional rate, and a primary residence the primary-residence fee.
Source · checked 28 Sep 2026 · Confirmed in source
What we haven't confirmed yet
Ask the Eastern District Planning Commission which document it issues for provincial registration. Its fee schedule lists both a development permit and a zoning confirmation. (checked 28 Sep 2026 · source)
Council approved amendments to the marketing levy by-law that bring short-term rental platforms into it. Ask the County's marketing levy line for the amended text, and whether hosts still remit the levy on platform bookings. (checked 28 Sep 2026 · source)
Ask the Eastern District Planning Commission whether a rental unit in a second dwelling or a separate building on the operator's own lot can run as a home-based business. The by-law ties that route to the dwelling that is the operator's principal residence. (checked 28 Sep 2026 · source)
Do I need a licence to run an Airbnb in Inverness County?
No, the County doesn't issue a short-term rental licence. Its municipal step is a Development Permit, which the Land Use By-law requires before a property starts being used for accommodations. Municipal step →
Does Inverness County have a short-term rental by-law?
Not a separate one. Short-term rentals fall under the County's Land Use By-law, which defines accommodation to include entire-home, room, cottage and cabin rentals and permits it zone by zone. Is a short-term rental allowed here? →
How is the Inverness County marketing levy charged and remitted?
It is 3% of the purchase price of each stay, collected at the time of sale. Operators file returns monthly and remit by the 15th of the month after the levy is collected. Marketing levy →
Who handles zoning and development permits for Inverness County?
The Eastern District Planning Commission provides planning and permits for the County: Eastern District Planning Commission (planning and development permits for the County), 902-625-5361, contact page. Its development officers issue the permit the Land Use By-law requires, and its fee schedule also lists a zoning confirmation. Levy questions go to the County's own marketing levy line. Municipal step →Who to contact →
Does this guide cover the village of Inverness?
Yes. The village of Inverness is one of the communities of the Municipality of the County of Inverness, so the County's by-laws apply there. Where this guide applies →