Airbnb and short-term rental rules in New Glasgow, 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
New Glasgow’s land-use by-law doesn’t name short-term rentals as a use. The closest defined use is Accommodations (rooms rented for tourist use in a building the owner doesn't use as a family dwelling, including hotels and motels) or, where the owner lives in the home, Bed and Breakfast. How a rental is classified is the development officer’s decision, and you can ask for it in writing.
Can I?
The home you live in (as New Glasgow’s by-law defines it)Not named in the by-law
The Town of New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, charges a tourism marketing levy on the price of accommodation, and its levy by-law requires each operator it covers to hold a Town registration certificate. The Town's land-use by-law doesn't name short-term rentals, so how a rental is classified decides whether it needs a Development Permit. Municipal step →
New Glasgow, Prince Edward Island, is a different place under other rules. The Town of New Glasgow is one of several municipalities in Pictou County, each with its own by-laws; a property's tax bill names the municipality it is in.
Is a short-term rental allowed here?
Across the unit
The home you live in (as New Glasgow’s by-law defines it)Not named in the by-lawNot named as a use. The closest, Bed and Breakfast (an owner-occupied single unit dwelling where the resident owner rents rooms to tourists), is permitted as a home occupation with at most four guest bedrooms in the Residential Single Unit (R1), Two Unit (R2) and Multiple Unit (R3) zones and, through the uses it takes in from them, the Residential Mini Home Park (R5) zone. It is also listed in the Downtown Core (C1), Downtown Commercial (C1-A), Highway Commercial (C3) and Commercial Business Park (C4) zones.
A home you don’t live inNot named in the by-lawNot named as a use. The by-law defines Accommodations (rooms rented for tourist use in a building the owner doesn't use as a family dwelling, including hotels and motels), and no residential zone lists them; Hotels and Motels are listed as of right in the Downtown Core (C1), Downtown Commercial (C1-A), Highway Commercial (C3) and Commercial Business Park (C4) zones. The by-law's Waterfront (W) zone lists cottages and tourist or guest homes, but New Glasgow's zoning map places no land in that zone.
Closest defined use: Accommodations (rooms rented for tourist use in a building the owner doesn't use as a family dwelling, including hotels and motels) or, where the owner lives in the home, Bed and Breakfast
“5.4. Accommodations mean Buildings or portions thereof in which rooms are regularly provided for compensation for tourist Use and which are not used by the owner as a family Dwelling, including, without limitation, Hotels and Motels and not including Multiple Unit Dwellings, Bed and Breakfast establishments, lodging houses, apartment Buildings, Community Homes or special care homes. ... 5.17. Bed and Breakfast means an owner-occupied single unit Dwelling in which the resident owner supplies rooms for compensation for tourist Use ... 28. Bed & Breakfast Uses shall be permitted in the Rural Residential (RR), Residential Single Unit (R1), Residential Two Unit (R2) and Residential Multiple Unit (R3) Zones provided: 28.1. the Bed and Breakfast is compliant with Home Occupation requirements as set out in section 27, excepting clauses 27.8 and 27.9; ... 28.3. there is a maximum of four Bedrooms for guest sleeping Accommodation.”
Land use in New Glasgow is governed by the Towns of New Glasgow, Pictou, Stellarton, Trenton and Westville (Common) Land Use By-law, in effect here since 22 Aug 2016 (source).
Town of Pictou, Town of Stellarton and Town of Trenton have left it for the Towns of Pictou, Stellarton, and Trenton (Common) Land Use By-law (from 12 Sep 2025); Town of Westville has left it for the Town of Westville Municipal Planning Strategy and Land Use By-law (from 31 Jul 2026).
In the residential zones, a bed and breakfast must meet the by-law's home-occupation rules other than their parking and floor-area limits. Among them: the owner lives in the dwelling, the outside isn't altered except to meet fire, safety, building-code or health rules, and the only advertising is one small wooden or wood-look sign.
Apart from nonconforming uses, a use a zone doesn't list is prohibited there, so how a rental is classified decides where it may run. Find the lot's zone on the Town's zoning map, then ask Town of New Glasgow, Planning and Development (through the Town Hall main line), (902) 755-7788, contact page to confirm the zone and the classification in writing.
Municipal step
Municipal step · Permit
Development Permit
Issued by
Development Officer (Planning and Development, Town of New Glasgow)
Fee
$100 (Development Permit, on the Town's Municipal Fees Policy, Appendix A, dated 5 May 2025) (one time)
Applies to
Both the home you live in and a home you don’t
Term
Valid 24 months from issue (s.7.2); renewable once for a further 24 months if never previously renewed (s.8.2)
Town of New Glasgow (the by-law is administered by the Chief Administrative Officer and persons the CAO designates)
Conditions
Displayed in a prominent place on the premises
One certificate for each place of business
Returned to the Town when the address, business name or nature of the business changes; not transferable
Applies to
Both the home you live in and a home you don’t
Term
No fixed term; void when the operator stops carrying on the business, and returned to the Town within 15 days of closing
Dates
In force since 7 Sep 2023
The by-law counts a change in the use of land or a building as development, which needs a Development Permit first; whether renting a home changes its use is the development officer's call. Ask Town of New Glasgow, Planning and Development (through the Town Hall main line), (902) 755-7788, contact page which document the Town issues for provincial registration. The levy certificate is a levy registration, not a land-use approval.
Steps and costs
Check the zone of the lot and confirm the use with Town of New Glasgow, Planning and Development (through the Town Hall main line), (902) 755-7788, contact page.
Development Permit, from Development Officer (Planning and Development, Town of New Glasgow). Details
Levy registration certificate, from Town of New Glasgow (the by-law is administered by the Chief Administrative Officer and persons the CAO designates). Details
Register for the tourism marketing levy and remit it on the bookings you collect it on. Details
Renew the Development Permit (Valid 24 months from issue (s.7.2); renewable once for a further 24 months if never previously renewed (s.8.2)).
Renew the Levy registration certificate (No fixed term; void when the operator stops carrying on the business, and returned to the Town within 15 days of closing).
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
$100 (Development Permit, on the Town's Municipal Fees Policy, Appendix A, dated 5 May 2025) (one time)
$100 (Development Permit, on the Town's Municipal Fees Policy, Appendix A, dated 5 May 2025) (one time)
Levy registration certificate
isn’t published
isn’t published
Provincial registration
$50 a year
$500 per unit a year
First year, municipal and provincial
No total: the Levy registration certificate fee isn’t published
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 Town of New Glasgow charges a 3% tourism marketing levy on the purchase price of the accommodation, not including the goods and services tax, in force since 7 Sep 2023 under Town of New Glasgow Tourism Marketing Levy Bylaw.
Who collects it
Airbnb’s tax page doesn’t list New Glasgow (checked 28 Sep 2026). Unless your payout shows Airbnb collecting it, you add and remit it.
Vrbo’s tax page doesn’t list New Glasgow (checked 28 Sep 2026). Unless your payout shows Vrbo collecting it, you add and remit it.
Booking.com’s tax page doesn’t list New Glasgow (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 Town of New Glasgow, by the 15th day of the month after the levy is collected.
Exemptions, in the by-law’s words
“a student who is housed in a building owned or operated by a post-secondary educational institution while the student is registered at and attending a post-secondary institution;”
“a person who is staying in a room for more than twenty-eight (28) consecutive days; or”
“A person, and the person's family, while receiving medical treatment at a hospital or provincial health-care centre or seeking specialist medical advice, provided the person provides a statement from said hospital or provincial health-care centre.”
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 levy is separate from HST, which is a federal and provincial sales tax.
The by-law puts the work on the operator: collect the levy when the stay is sold, show it as a separate item on the receipt or invoice, and keep separate records of it.
Each place of business files its own return unless the Town approves a combined one, and a period with no levy collected still needs a return saying so.
Provincial registration
Register each unit with the Province before advertising it. The first application includes New Glasgow’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 Town of New Glasgow 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
Which document the Town issues as land-use proof for a provincial short-term rental registration. Its fee schedule lists a development permit and a zoning confirmation; ask Planning and Development which one it issues for this. (checked 28 Sep 2026 · source)
Whether renting a whole home, one the owner doesn't live in, counts as a change of use that needs a Development Permit, and how the development officer classifies it. Ask Planning and Development for its reading in writing. (checked 28 Sep 2026 · source)
Whether the levy registration certificate carries a fee, and how an operator applies for one. Ask Town Hall. (checked 28 Sep 2026 · source)
Whether the levy by-law, and its registration certificate, reach every short-term rental. The by-law covers hotels, motels and other facilities required to be licensed under the Province's accommodation law, which it cites by that law's former name; ask Town Hall how it applies it to short-term rentals. (checked 28 Sep 2026 · source)
Whether the zoning map the Town posts, dated May 2016, shows every rezoning since. This guide relies on it for which zones exist in New Glasgow; ask Planning and Development to confirm a lot's zone. (checked 28 Sep 2026 · source)
No. The Town has no by-law written for short-term rentals, and its land-use by-law doesn't name them as a use. That by-law lists bed and breakfasts, in a home the owner lives in, and hotels and motels in named zones. Is a short-term rental allowed here? →
Can a whole house be rented short-term in New Glasgow?
Not as a use of its own: the land-use by-law doesn't name it, and no residential zone lists accommodations, the by-law's term for tourist rooms in a building the owner doesn't use as a family home. The development officer decides how a whole-home rental is classified, and a change of use needs a Development Permit. Is a short-term rental allowed here? →Municipal step →
Who collects New Glasgow's tourism levy on an Airbnb booking?
The Town's levy by-law puts collecting and remitting the levy on the operator. Unless your Airbnb payout shows Airbnb collecting it, you add it to the guest's bill and remit it to the Town yourself. Marketing levy →