Airbnb and short-term rental rules in Stewiacke, 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
Stewiacke’s land-use by-law doesn’t name short-term rentals as a use. Ask the Town of Stewiacke's Town Office how the Development Officer classifies a whole home rented to travellers for short stays.
Can I?
The home you live in (as Stewiacke’s by-law defines it)Not named in the by-law
The Town of Stewiacke, Nova Scotia, is its own municipality inside Colchester County, and its Land Use By-law, which doesn't name short-term rentals, is the by-law for the town.
Guests also pay a marketing levy that Stewiacke imposes under its own by-law, as a partner of Truro, Colchester County and Millbrook First Nation in one regional program (Marketing levy).
Is a short-term rental allowed here?
Across the unit
The home you live in (as Stewiacke’s by-law defines it)Not named in the by-lawAsk the Town of Stewiacke's Town Office which zones list guest houses and bed and breakfasts, and whether the Special Commercial zone is in force.
A home you don’t live inNot named in the by-lawAsk the Town of Stewiacke's Town Office which zones list guest houses and bed and breakfasts, and whether the Special Commercial zone is in force.
Closest defined use: Ask the Town of Stewiacke's Town Office how the Development Officer classifies a whole home rented to travellers for short stays.
“In the R-2 Zone, a development permit shall be issued for a bed and breakfast establishment provided that: (a) such use is accessory to the main residential use occupied by a resident of the property;”
With no short-term rental use in the by-law, the first question is which defined use a rental fits. A guest house or bed and breakfast is a kind of dwelling; a hotel or motel is not.
Find the lot's zone on the Town's zoning map, then ask Town of Stewiacke, Town Office (general inquiries, including zoning), (902) 639-2231, contact page to confirm in writing how the rental would be classified there.
Stewiacke has no short-term rental licence (checked 28 Sep 2026). Its fee schedule lists a Zoning Confirmation Letter, the Town Office's written statement of a lot's zoning. Before you apply to the Province, ask Town of Stewiacke, Town Office (general inquiries, including zoning), (902) 639-2231, contact page which document it issues for provincial registration, and whether it will say how a rental is classified. Provincial registration →
Steps and costs
Check the zone of the lot and confirm the use with Town of Stewiacke, Town Office (general inquiries, including zoning), (902) 639-2231, contact page.
Zoning Confirmation Letter, from Town of Stewiacke, Town Office. 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)
Zoning Confirmation Letter
$25 (one time)
$25 (one time)
Provincial registration
$50 a year
$500 per unit a year
First year, municipal and provincial
$75
$525
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.
On Airbnb, you add it to the guest’s bill and remit it (as of 28 Sep 2026)
On Vrbo, you add it to the guest’s bill and remit it (as of 28 Sep 2026)
On Booking.com, you add it to the guest’s bill and remit it (as of 28 Sep 2026)
On direct bookings, you add it to the guest’s bill and remit it (as of 28 Sep 2026)
Remitting it
Ask the Tourism Marketing Levy Coordinator how often levy reports and payments are due.
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 a post-secondary educational institution;”
“a person who is accommodated in a room for more than thirty consecutive days; or”
“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 healthcare center or seeking specialist medical advice, provided the person provides to the operator a statement from a hospital or provincial healthcare center stating that: (i) the person or a member of the person's family is receiving medical treatment at the hospital or center or from a physician licensed to practice medicine in the Province of Nova Scotia; (ii) as a result thereof the person or member of the person's family is in need of the accommodation; and (iii) the duration that the accommodation will be required.”
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 Bylaw 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 levy comes from the Town's own by-law, but one joint program, run by the Municipality of Colchester for Truro, Colchester County, Stewiacke and Millbrook First Nation, handles registration, reporting and payment at tcmarketinglevy.ca.
The Town's by-law has the operator show the levy as a separate item on each receipt or invoice, keep separate records of it, and file a return even for a period with no levy collected.
Provincial registration
Register each unit with the Province before advertising it. The first application includes Stewiacke’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 Stewiacke 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 proof of land-use compliance for a provincial short-term rental registration. Its fee schedule lists a zoning confirmation letter: ask the Town Office whether that letter is the document it issues for provincial registration. (checked 28 Sep 2026 · source)
Whether the conditions the by-law sets for a bed and breakfast in the General Residential (R-2) zone (accessory to a home a resident occupies, breakfast only, the only accessory use on the lot) also apply to a guest house in that zone and to a bed and breakfast home in the Rural Residential (R-4) zone. (checked 28 Sep 2026 · source)
Yes. The Town of Stewiacke is a municipality of its own inside Colchester County, and the by-law for the town is its own Land Use By-law, not the County's. Is a short-term rental allowed here? →
Does the regional marketing levy apply in Stewiacke?
Yes. The Town adopted its own levy by-law as a partner in the regional program, and guests pay 3% of the purchase price of the accommodation. Marketing levy →
Do Airbnb or Vrbo collect the Stewiacke levy?
No. On Airbnb or Vrbo, you add the levy to the guest's bill and remit it yourself, the way the regional program has run it since 1 Apr 2024 (as of 28 Sep 2026). The program says most platforms' host tools let you add it as a fee on the booking. Marketing levy →
About the Tourism Marketing Levy (Tourism Marketing Levy program (Municipality of Colchester, for Truro, Colchester, Stewiacke and Millbrook First Nation))