Airbnb and short-term rental rules in Stellarton, 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
Stellarton’s land-use by-law doesn’t name short-term rentals as a use. The closest defined use is Bed and Breakfast (rooms let in a home its owner lives in) in the residential zones, the Downtown Core and Highway Commercial, or Hotels and Motels in the Downtown Core, Highway Commercial and Commercial Business Park zones. 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 Stellarton’s by-law defines it)Not named in the by-law
The Town of Stellarton, Nova Scotia, adds two municipal steps to the provincial registration: the Development Permit its Land Use By-law requires before any change in how a building is used, and the levy registration certificate its levy by-law requires of the accommodation operators it covers.
Is a short-term rental allowed here?
Across the unit
The home you live in (as Stellarton’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 Rural Residential, Residential Single Unit, Two Unit and Multiple Unit zones, and is also listed in the Downtown Core and Highway Commercial zones
A home you don’t live inUnder reviewNot named as a use. Hotels and motels are listed as of right in the Downtown Core, Highway Commercial and Commercial Business Park zones. The by-law's Waterfront zone lists cottages, country inns, hostels, inns and tourist or guest home establishments, none tied to the owner living there; ask Town Hall whether any Stellarton land carries that zoning
Closest defined use: Bed and Breakfast (rooms let in a home its owner lives in) in the residential zones, the Downtown Core and Highway Commercial, or Hotels and Motels in the Downtown Core, Highway Commercial and Commercial Business Park zones
“5.17. Bed and Breakfast means an owner-occupied single unit Dwelling in which the resident owner supplies rooms for compensation for tourist Use [...] 27.4. the Dwelling is occupied as a residence by the Home Occupation owner [...] 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: [...] 28.3. there is a maximum of four Bedrooms for guest sleeping Accommodation.”
Land use in Stellarton is governed by the Towns of Pictou, Stellarton, and Trenton (Common) Land Use By-law, in effect here since 12 Sep 2025 (source).
It replaced the Towns of New Glasgow, Pictou, Stellarton, Trenton and Westville (Common) Land Use By-law here; Town of New Glasgow still uses that by-law.
In plain words, the only tourist use the by-law lists in its residential zones is a Bed and Breakfast: rooms let in a home its owner lives in, run as a home occupation. Renting out the whole home isn't that use, and a use the by-law doesn't list in a zone is prohibited there.
Municipal step
Municipal step · Permit
Development Permit
Issued by
Development Officer, Town of Stellarton (applications go through the Town's Building Official)
Town of Stellarton (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 16 Aug 2023
The Development Permit isn't a short-term rental licence: it is the by-law's approval for any change in how land or a building is used, issued before the new use starts. Ask Town Hall whether it also serves as the land-use proof for provincial registration. The levy registration certificate is a separate step. Marketing levy →
Steps and costs
Check the zone of the lot and confirm the use with Town of Stellarton, Town Hall (building and development permits), (902) 752-2114, contact page.
Development Permit, from Development Officer, Town of Stellarton (applications go through the Town's Building Official). Details
Levy registration certificate, from Town of Stellarton (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 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
isn’t published
isn’t published
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 Development Permit 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 Stellarton charges a 3% tourism marketing levy on the purchase price of the accommodation, not including the goods and services tax, in force since 16 Aug 2023 under Tourism Marketing Levy By-law (58).
Who collects it
Airbnb’s tax page doesn’t list Stellarton (checked 28 Sep 2026). Unless your payout shows Airbnb collecting it, you add and remit it.
Vrbo’s tax page doesn’t list Stellarton (checked 28 Sep 2026). Unless your payout shows Vrbo collecting it, you add and remit it.
Booking.com’s tax page doesn’t list Stellarton (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 Stellarton, by the 15th day of the month following the collection of the levy.
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.”
“A person who pays for accommodation for which the daily purchase price is not more than twenty ($20.00) dollars.”
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.
Where the levy applies, the guest sees it as a separate line on the bill. For the operator, it is money held for the Town: collected at the time of sale, kept apart in the books, and reported even for a period with nothing collected.
The levy is the Town's own. Neighbouring municipalities, the County of Pictou among them, decide their own levies, so the municipality a property is in decides which one applies.
Provincial registration
Register each unit with the Province before advertising it. The first application includes Stellarton’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 common Land Use By-law lets Stellarton, alone of the three towns, allow a mini-home as a garden or garage suite, on conditions. One condition is that the mini-home may not be used for short-term accommodations.
The Town of Stellarton 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
Of the three towns sharing the land-use by-law, only Stellarton allows a mini-home as a garden or garage suite, on conditions, one of which rules out short-term stays in it. For other garden and garage suites the by-law names no short-term use, so ask Town Hall how one would be classified before listing it.
What we haven't confirmed yet
Ask Town Hall whether any land in Stellarton is zoned Waterfront under the current Land Use By-law, and where its current zoning map can be read. That zone lists cottages, country inns, hostels, inns and tourist or guest homes, none tied to the owner living there. The zoning map the Town posts shows no Waterfront zone, but it uses zones the current by-law no longer has, so it predates it. (checked 28 Sep 2026 · source)
Ask Town Hall which document it issues as the land-use proof a provincial short-term rental registration needs. The Town's permit application is one Building and Development Permit form, with a box to mark a new use. (checked 28 Sep 2026 · source)
Ask Town Hall for the Development Permit's fee before you apply. The Town sets it after it reviews each application. (checked 28 Sep 2026 · source)
Ask Town Hall whether the levy registration certificate carries a fee, and how to apply for it. The levy by-law states no fee for it. (checked 28 Sep 2026 · source)
Ask Town Hall whether the levy and its registration certificate reach every short-term rental, rooms rented in the host's own home included. The levy by-law defines the accommodation it covers as hotels, motels and other facilities required to be licensed under the Province's registration law, which it names by that law's former title. (checked 28 Sep 2026 · source)
Does Stellarton have its own short-term rental rules?
No: the Town has no short-term rental licence or by-law, and its Land Use By-law doesn't name the use. What it does require is the Development Permit before a new use starts and, from each accommodation operator its levy by-law covers, the levy registration certificate. Municipal step →
Can a whole home be rented short-term in Stellarton without the owner there?
Not under any use the by-law names for its residential zones, whose only tourist use is a Bed and Breakfast: rooms let in a home the owner lives in. The by-law lists hotels and motels in commercial zones, and cottages, inns, hostels and tourist homes with no resident-owner condition only in the Waterfront zone. Ask Town Hall whether any Stellarton land is zoned Waterfront, and how it would classify a whole home. Is a short-term rental allowed here? →