Airbnb and short-term rental rules in the Region of Queens, 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. Short-term rentals are permitted as of right in thirteen zones, one per lot, and not in the three downtown commercial zones or the industrial zones.
Can I?
The home you live in (as Region of Queens’s by-law defines it)In some zones
The Region of Queens Municipality, Nova Scotia, names short-term rentals in its Land Use Bylaw and permits them in its residential, hamlet, rural and mixed-use zones, with no rule about whether the owner lives there. Its accommodation levy by-law adds a 3% levy to what guests pay for a stay.
Its rules cover communities such as Port Mouton, Port Medway, Mill Village, Brooklyn and Hunts Point.
Is a short-term rental allowed here?
Across the unit
The home you live in (as Region of Queens’s by-law defines it)In some zonesPermitted in the RL, RG, RM, RC, CM, HR, HC, R5, R6, SL, SR, Re and CR zones, one per lot, including within an accessory dwelling; the bylaw has no owner-occupancy rule.
A home you don’t live inIn some zonesPermitted on the same terms as an owner-occupied rental: in the RL, RG, RM, RC, CM, HR, HC, R5, R6, SL, SR, Re and CR zones, one per lot; not in CD, CG, CL or the industrial, shared and protective zones.
one short-term rental per lot (s.7.14.1)
“7.14 Short-term Rentals 7.14.1 Only one short-term rental shall be permitted on a lot. 7.14.2 Short-term rentals shall be permitted within an accessory dwelling. ... SHORT-TERM RENTAL means a fixed-roof overnight accommodation where guest sleeping facilities are contained within one building on a lot and where the facilities on the lot are only rented to one party at a time.”
In plain words, the by-law's short-term rental is guest sleeping facilities in one building on a lot, let to one party at a time. It treats the home you live in and a home you don't alike and sets no limit on nights: the zone decides.
The Downtown Commercial, General Commercial and Liverpool Waterfront zones don't permit the use, but do permit fixed-roof overnight accommodation, which the by-law says can include short-term house rentals. Ask Planning (Land Use) whether a whole-home rental there counts as that use, and how the one-per-lot limit applies to a house with an accessory dwelling.
Municipal step
Ask Region of Queens, Planning (Land Use), 902-354-3453, contact page which document it issues for provincial registration.
The Province's first application includes a land-use document from the Municipality. The Land Use Bylaw requires a development permit for development, defined to include a change in a building's use. When you ask Region of Queens, Planning (Land Use), 902-354-3453, contact page which document it issues, ask too whether starting a short-term rental in an existing home needs that permit.
Steps and costs
Check the zone of the lot and confirm the use with Region of Queens, Planning (Land Use), 902-354-3453, contact page.
Ask Region of Queens, Planning (Land Use), 902-354-3453, contact page which document it issues for provincial registration.Details
Register for the accommodation 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)
Provincial registration
$50 a year
$500 per unit a year
First year, municipal and provincial
$50
$500
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 Region of Queens Municipality charges a 3% accommodation levy on the total price for which the accommodation is purchased, inclusive of the price in money, optional fees, service fees and other considerations accepted by the operator, but not including the goods and services tax (s.2(1)(f)) under Bylaw No. 29, A Bylaw Respecting the Collection of Fees Under an Accommodation Levy. Ask Region of Queens Municipality's office whether the Accommodation Levy by-law took effect on the date its posted text gives; the posted copy's certification block is unsigned.
Who collects it
Airbnb’s tax page doesn’t list Region of Queens (checked 6 Oct 2026). Unless your payout shows Airbnb collecting it, you add and remit it.
Vrbo’s tax page doesn’t list Region of Queens (checked 6 Oct 2026). Unless your payout shows Vrbo collecting it, you add and remit it.
Booking.com’s tax page doesn’t list Region of Queens (checked 6 Oct 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 6 Oct 2026)
Remitting it
Ask Region of Queens Municipality's office where operators file the monthly accommodation levy return and remit the levy.
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 seeking specialist medical advice, provided the person provides to the operator a statement from the hospital, health-care centre or a physician licensed in Nova Scotia”
“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 or climate disaster, including high wind events, flood events, wildfire, or other such 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 Bylaw No. 29, A Bylaw Respecting the Collection of Fees Under an Accommodation 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.
In plain words, whoever sells the stay collects the levy at the time of sale and shows it as a separate item on the receipt or invoice. An operator keeps separate levy records and files a return for every period, even one with nothing collected.
The by-law has platforms register with the Province, and whoever collects the levy remits it. Where a platform doesn't collect it, you do. Each channel's line gives what we found and when.
Provincial registration
Register each unit with the Province before advertising it. The first application includes Region of Queens’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.
Ask the Development Officer whether starting a short-term rental in an existing dwelling needs a development permit as a change in use. (checked 6 Oct 2026 · source)
Ask the Development Officer how one short-term rental per lot applies where a lot has a dwelling and an accessory dwelling. (checked 6 Oct 2026 · source)
Ask the Development Officer whether a whole home in the three downtown commercial zones can be permitted as fixed-roof overnight accommodation, which those zones do list. (checked 6 Oct 2026 · source)
Ask the municipal office whether the Accommodation Levy by-law is in force as posted and where operators file the monthly return. (checked 6 Oct 2026 · source)
What does the Region of Queens accommodation levy by-law require of a host?
It sets a levy of 3% of the total price for which the accommodation is purchased, inclusive of the price in money, optional fees, service fees and other considerations accepted by the operator, but not including the goods and services tax (s.2(1)(f)), which you collect from the guest at the time of sale and show as a separate item on any receipt or invoice. You send the Municipality a monthly return and the levy collected, by the fifteenth (15th) day of the month following the collection of the Accommodation Levy by the Operator (s.7(4)); a nil return is still filed (s.7(5)). Marketing levy →
Does the Region of Queens have its own short-term rental zoning rules?
Yes: its Land Use Bylaw defines a short-term rental, lists it zone by zone, and allows one short-term rental on a lot. It sets no owner-occupancy test, so the same zones apply to the home you live in and to a home you don't. Is a short-term rental allowed here? →
Do I need a permit for a short-term rental in the Region of Queens?
A new provincial registration includes a land-use document from the Municipality, so ask Planning (Land Use) which document it issues. Ask too whether your rental needs a development permit: the Land Use Bylaw requires one for development, which it defines to include a change in the use of a building, and it doesn't say whether renting to guests is one. Municipal step →