Airbnb and short-term rental rules in Truro, 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
Truro’s land-use by-law doesn’t name short-term rentals as a use. The closest defined use is Accommodations (overnight lodging for the travelling public, for pay) or, where the owner lives in the building, 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 Truro’s by-law defines it)Not named in the by-law
The Town of Truro, Nova Scotia, has a land-use by-law that never names short-term rentals, and its step for hosts is a Letter of Short-Term Rental Compliance, requested from Planning and Development.
Guests also pay a 3% marketing levy that Truro runs jointly with Colchester County, Stewiacke and Millbrook First Nation, through one regional program. Marketing levy →
Truro, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod, is a different town, and nothing here applies to it. Within Nova Scotia, a Truro mailing address doesn't by itself place a property inside the Town of Truro: the property tax bill names the municipality.
Is a short-term rental allowed here?
Across the unit
The home you live in (as Truro’s by-law defines it)Not named in the by-lawNot named as a use. The closest, Bed and Breakfast (the owner lives in the building; breakfast for guests only), is listed as of right in the Downtown Core, Urban Corridor, Urban Growth Area, Downtown Neighbourhood, Regional Service, Rural Residential and Watershed Residential zones, and with conditions in the General Residential and Future Growth Area zones.
A home you don’t live inNot named in the by-lawNot named as a use. The closest, Accommodations (overnight lodging for the travelling public, for pay), is listed as of right in the Downtown Core, Regional Service, Business Industrial and Commercial Recreation zones, and with conditions in the Urban Corridor, Urban Growth Area and Downtown Neighbourhood zones.
Closest defined use: Accommodations (overnight lodging for the travelling public, for pay) or, where the owner lives in the building, Bed and Breakfast
“Accommodations means a building or part thereof, where overnight lodgings are provided for the travelling public for financial remuneration and may include meeting rooms, restaurants, and entertainment facilities. ... Bed and Breakfast means a building or part thereof in which the owner resides and provides common living rooms and not more than four sleeping rooms for the travelling and vacationing public, and where breakfast is served only to those who rent the sleeping rooms.”
The two closest uses split on one test: Bed and Breakfast requires the owner to live in the building, while the by-law's definition of Accommodations sets no rule about where the owner lives.
The Town's request form for its letter asks whether the property is owner-occupied and, if it is, how many bedrooms are rented.
Municipal step
Municipal step · Letter
Letter of Short-Term Rental Compliance
Issued by
Town of Truro, Planning and Development
Needs first
Ask the Town of Truro's Planning and Development office whether to request its letter before or after registering with the Province.
Conditions
Marketing levy registration and payments up to date
The office may inspect the property to confirm the number of dwelling units
The letter is the Town's written confirmation that a rental fits its land-use by-law. It isn't the general zoning confirmation letter used in property sales, which is a separate request.
Steps and costs
Check the zone of the lot and confirm the use with Town of Truro, Planning and Development, 902-895-1148, contact page.
Letter of Short-Term Rental Compliance, from Town of Truro, Planning and Development. 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)
Letter of Short-Term Rental Compliance
isn’t published
isn’t published
Provincial registration
$50 a year
$500 per unit a year
First year, municipal and provincial
No total: the Letter of Short-Term Rental Compliance 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 Truro charges a 3% marketing levy on the purchase price of the accommodation, in force since 2 Oct 2023 under Marketing Levy Bylaw (B160-015).
Who collects it
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.
Payments for Truro properties go to the Town of Truro, in person at Town Hall, by mail or by online banking, while registration and reports run through the regional program's portal and coordinator.
The by-law requires the levy to show as its own line on any bill, receipt or invoice issued for a stay.
Provincial registration
Register each unit with the Province before advertising it. The first application includes Truro’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 Truro 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 comes first, the Town of Truro letter or the provincial registration, and whether the letter carries a fee or a set processing time. Ask Planning and Development before applying for either. (checked 28 Sep 2026 · source)
How often levy returns and payments are due. Confirm the schedule with the Tourism Marketing Levy Coordinator. (checked 28 Sep 2026 · source)
Truro's land-use by-law doesn't name short-term rentals as a use; the closest defined use is Accommodations (overnight lodging for the travelling public, for pay) or, where the owner lives in the building, Bed and Breakfast. Whether a particular rental fits the by-law is confirmed property by property, through the Town's letter. Is a short-term rental allowed here? →
How much is Truro's marketing levy on a booking?
The levy is 3% of the purchase price of the accommodation, not counting HST, and it goes on the guest's bill, so it isn't an owner cost. Where the stay carries HST, the HST is charged on the levy as well as on the room. Marketing levy →
Does Airbnb collect Truro's marketing levy?
No. On Airbnb, you add the levy to the guest's bill and remit it yourself, as the regional program has required since 1 Apr 2024 (as of 28 Sep 2026). The program's levy page points hosts to the platform's own host booking tools for adding it. Marketing levy →
Does the Town of Truro have a short-term rental by-law?
No. The Town's by-law list has none written for short-term rentals alone (checked 28 Sep 2026); its step for hosts is the Letter of Short-Term Rental Compliance, which confirms a rental against the land-use by-law. Municipal step →