Houston government promises to release tenancy enforcement unit report

The cabinet minister responsible for Nova Scotia's Residential Tenancies Act is promising to release a consultant's report that laid out how the province could set up an enforcement unit to ensure landlords and tenants comply with the law.

The Houston government hired Davis Pier Consulting in November 2022 to map out how Nova Scotia could set up a system similar to one in Ontario, but last week announced it would not be going ahead with the plan.

Pressed on the issue Tuesday during question period, Colton LeBlanc said he would release the report as soon as possible.

Speaking to reporters afterward, the minister would not be more precise about when the public might see what the consultant recommended.

"Staff are currently going through to see if any redactions have to be made, but I'm expecting sooner than later and once it's made available, I'll make sure you get a copy," LeBlanc said outside the legislative chamber. 

Copies of the preliminary report were leaked to media outlets, including CBC News, late last summer.

In it, the consultants made a strong case for why Nova Scotia should follow Ontario's lead.

"Complainants and other interested parties feel that there are no consequences for repeated or egregious violations of the [Residential Tenancies] Act, and director's orders can be difficult or impossible to enforce," the report noted.

As he has done previously, LeBlanc disputed that the consultants recommended the province create an enforcement unit.

"I know that it's been reported that it was a recommendation to government," said LeBlanc. "It was not.

"There were recommendations, if the government were to do this. We posed the question to Davis Pier to see, if government were to move forward with this, what could it look like? It wasn't a recommendation, should government do this?"

Opposition leaders said the report should be made public before other proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act move to the legislature's law amendments committee for public comment.

"We've got a housing crisis from one end of this province to the other," Liberal Leader Zach Churchill said. "If there is something that the public has a deep concern about, it's going to be housing and the cost of living.

"So certainly I do not think the government should be sneaky with that report [and should] allow the public to see it so the public can provide commentary."