Airbnb and short-term rental rules in Port Hawkesbury, 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
Port Hawkesbury’s land-use by-law doesn’t name short-term rentals as a use. The closest defined use is a tourist establishment (sleeping accommodation for the travelling public, for gain, such as a guest house, tourist cabins, a motel or a hotel) or, where the resident of the house serves overnight guests with meals, a bed and breakfast establishment. 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 Port Hawkesbury’s by-law defines it)Not named in the by-law
The Town of Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia, has no short-term rental by-law, but its Marketing Levy By-law requires every operator of accommodation in the town to hold a levy registration certificate from the Town. Municipal step →
Is a short-term rental allowed here?
Across the unit
The home you live in (as Port Hawkesbury’s by-law defines it)Not named in the by-lawNot named as a use. The closest, a bed and breakfast establishment (a single detached dwelling whose resident supplies overnight accommodation with meals, up to four units), is listed only in the Residential Two Unit (R-2), Residential Rural (R-5) and Granville Street/Waterfront Development (C-2) zones.
A home you don’t live inNot named in the by-lawNot named as a use. The closest, a tourist establishment (such as a guest house or tourist cabins), is listed in the Commercial Highway (C-3) and Commercial Main Street (C-5) zones; hotels and motels are also listed in the Granville Street/Waterfront Development (C-2), Commercial Restricted (C-4), Mixed Use (M-1) and Industrial Extractive (M-3) zones. No residential zone lists any of them.
Closest defined use: a tourist establishment (sleeping accommodation for the travelling public, for gain, such as a guest house, tourist cabins, a motel or a hotel) or, where the resident of the house serves overnight guests with meals, a bed and breakfast establishment
“Bed and breakfast establishment means a single detached dwelling in which the resident of the dwelling supplies overnight accommodation with meals to the public for monetary gain and does not include facilities open to the general public such as meeting rooms, restaurants and entertainment facilities. ... Tourist establishment means a building or buildings which are used to accommodate the travelling public for gain or profit by supplying them with sleeping accommodation, with or without meals, and shall include a guest house, tourist cabins, a motel, an auto court, and a hotel. ... For the purposes of this By-law, if a use is not listed as a permitted use in any zone, it shall be deemed to be a prohibited use in that zone.”
The by-law lists the uses each zone permits, and any use a zone doesn't list is prohibited there. A whole home rented with no resident host doesn't meet the bed and breakfast definition, which needs the resident of the house to supply overnight accommodation with meals.
The Eastern District Planning Commission handles planning and development permits for the Town. Who to contact →
Municipal step
Municipal step · Registration
Levy registration certificate
Issued by
Town of Port Hawkesbury (the Chief Administrative Officer or a designate)
Conditions
One certificate for each place of business
Displayed in a prominent place on the premises
Returned for amendment when the address changes; a new certificate when the business's name or nature changes
Not transferable
Applies to
Both the home you live in and a home you don’t
Term
No expiry stated; void when the operator stops carrying on the business
Dates
In force since 1 Nov 2023
The certificate comes from the Marketing Levy By-law and registers the operator, anyone who sells or provides accommodation in the town in the normal course of business, for the levy. It doesn't confirm that a rental complies with the Land Use By-law, which is what the Province's application asks the municipality to confirm. Provincial registration →
Steps and costs
Check the zone of the lot and confirm the use with Eastern District Planning Commission (planning, development permits and building inspection for the Town), (902) 625-5361, contact page.
Levy registration certificate, from Town of Port Hawkesbury (the Chief Administrative Officer or a designate). Details
Register for the marketing levy and remit it on the bookings you collect it on. Details
Renew the Levy registration certificate (No expiry stated; void when the operator stops carrying on the business).
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)
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 Port Hawkesbury charges a 3% marketing levy on the purchase price of the accommodation (not including the goods and services tax), in force since 1 Nov 2023 under Town of Port Hawkesbury Marketing Levy By-law.
Who collects it
Airbnb’s tax page doesn’t list Port Hawkesbury (checked 28 Sep 2026). Unless your payout shows Airbnb collecting it, you add and remit it.
Vrbo’s tax page doesn’t list Port Hawkesbury (checked 28 Sep 2026). Unless your payout shows Vrbo collecting it, you add and remit it.
Booking.com’s tax page doesn’t list Port Hawkesbury (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 Port Hawkesbury, 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 ($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 or Platform 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 Town of Port Hawkesbury 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.
The by-law has the levy collected at the time of sale "whether by an Operator or Platform Operator", and shown as a separate item on the guest's bill. The Town's levy page says every accommodation provider in the town must collect it.
Returns go through the reporting portal of the Ontario Restaurant Hotel & Motel Association, which the Town designated to help operators. The levy funds Destination Cape Breton: Cape Breton marketing levy.
Provincial registration
Register each unit with the Province before advertising it. The first application includes Port Hawkesbury’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 Port Hawkesbury 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 how a whole home rented to travellers with no resident host is classified. The Land Use By-law doesn't name short-term rentals; its closest defined use, a tourist establishment, and hotels and motels are listed only in commercial, mixed-use and industrial zones. (checked 28 Sep 2026 · source)
Ask the Eastern District Planning Commission how renting rooms in the home you live in is classified when no meals are served. The by-law's bed and breakfast definition includes meals, and it separately permits a home occupation, a secondary business use of a dwelling by the person who lives there, in the R-1, R-2, R-3 and R-5 zones. (checked 28 Sep 2026 · source)
Ask the Eastern District Planning Commission whether starting a short-term rental needs a development permit. Its planning page says a development permit is needed for all new construction and any change in use of an existing structure. (checked 28 Sep 2026 · source)
Ask the Town Office (marketing levy) whether the levy registration certificate carries a fee, and how to apply for it. The Marketing Levy By-law states no fee for it. (checked 28 Sep 2026 · source)
Does Port Hawkesbury regulate short-term rentals, or only the Province?
Both: the Town has no by-law written for short-term rentals, but two of its by-laws apply alongside the provincial rules. Its Land Use By-law decides which zones permit the closest uses it defines, and its Marketing Levy By-law requires each operator to hold a registration certificate. Is a short-term rental allowed here? →
What is the Port Hawkesbury marketing levy, and when is it due?
It is 3% of the purchase price of the accommodation (not including the goods and services tax) for stays from 1 Jan 2024. Returns and payments are due monthly, by the 15th day of the month following the collection of the levy, and a return is still filed for a month with no bookings. Marketing levy →
Is HST charged on the Port Hawkesbury marketing levy?
Yes, wherever HST applies to the stay: it is charged on the levy as well as on the room, because a municipal levy is part of the price HST applies to. The Town's levy page says the same. Marketing levy →
Does the Port Hawkesbury marketing levy apply to a rented cottage?
Yes. The Town's levy page lists cottages among the short-term, fixed-roof accommodations it applies to, with hotels, motels, inns, bed and breakfasts and rentals through platforms such as Airbnb and Vrbo. The by-law exempts only a few kinds of stay, such as one for medical treatment or after a natural disaster displaces a family. Marketing levy →