Whether the rental is owner-occupied or not, the law is the same. No special rules or conditions in the Residential Tenancies Act apply just because it’s an owner-occupied rental unit. 

However, in owner-occupied rentals, the landlord and tenant tend to spend more time together, which gives more opportunity for disputes to arise. The interpersonal relationship between the landlord and the tenant tends to be critical when it’s an owner-occupied rental. 

Some common sources of disputes in owner-occupied rentals are:

• Landlords making overly restrictive rules
• Landlords entering the tenant's space inappropriately
• Landlord's use of video surveillance
• Roommate chores and responsibilities (e.g. doing the dishes, taking out garbage, etc.)
• The tenant's social life (e.g. partying, staying up late watching TV, and having guests over)

While less common, crises can arise, and disputes about crisis situations can be more severe in an owner-occupied rental. That can include mental health emergencies, medical issues leading to incapacity, criminal activities, or violent altercations. 

Rules must be reasonable

A landlord can put their own rules into a lease if they don’t conflict with the Residential Tenancy Act (RTA). The landlord must give the tenant a copy of their rules when they sign their lease. 

Any rule must also be “reasonable,” which means:

• It doesn’t violate the RTA or assign a landlord’s responsibilities to the tenant
• It ensures all services are fairly distributed to tenants
• It promotes the safety, comfort, and well-being of all tenants
• It protects the landlord’s property from abuse

Rules must apply to all tenants equally, and a landlord must clearly explain what tenants must or must not do to obey the rule.

Changing the rules or imposing new rules

Landlords can change rules by giving a tenant at least four months’ written notice before the lease anniversary date. If a landlord misses a tenant’s anniversary date, the new rules will only come into effect on the next anniversary date.

Tenants also have the right to ask for rules they are uncomfortable with to be changed and are under no obligation to follow an unreasonable or illegal rule after signing. However, the landlord may not acknowledge that the rule is unreasonable, which may lead to a dispute between the landlord and the tenant.

Enforcing the rules

The landlord must apply to the Residential Tenancies Program for dispute resolution to enforce a rule. It only makes sense for a landlord to impose a rule if they are willing to take that step to enforce it.

Not all rule violations are serious enough to justify eviction. Even if a rule is reasonable and there’s evidence that the tenant violated it, a Residential Tenancies Officer may give the tenant a warning rather than evict them.   

Both landlords and tenants have a legal obligation to behave well. This means that both parties must not interfere with the possession or occupancy of the other. 

However, landlords do have a right to enter the unit they rent. While there is no limit on how often this can occur, landlords cannot use their right of entry to harass the tenant. 

A landlord can enter a rental property between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. for any reason, as long as they give the tenant 24 hours’ written notice. 

They can also give notice that someone else will be entering the unit, like a contractor. A landlord or tenant is not required to be present while the other person is in the unit.

The landlord cannot just give a wide range of times that they will be in the unit (e.g. they cannot say they will be there at some point between Mon-Fri between 9 am-5 pm); it must be a specific time and date.

A landlord can only enter a premises without notice in two situations:

• There is an emergency. An emergency is generally something that could cause significant damage to the property or where there is a risk to someone’s life. In these situations, a landlord (or emergency medical responder) can enter regardless of whether or not the tenant is home.
• They reasonably believe that the tenant abandoned the lease (i.e., the tenant has moved out and does not intend to pay rent or return).

Landlords are required to comply with Canada’s private sector privacy law. This means they must handle tenants' personal information responsibly. With some exceptions, they must obtain a tenant’s consent when they collect, use or disclose their personal information.

Some obligations that landlords have under privacy law include:

• Identifying the reasons for collecting personal information before or during collection. The reasons given should be what a reasonable person would consider appropriate given the circumstances.
• Providing individuals with access to the personal information that they hold about them and allowing them to challenge its accuracy
• Only using a tenant’s personal information for the purposes it was collected.
• Ensuring that personal information is protected by appropriate safeguards

Privacy laws can be challenging to enforce 

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada administers the relevant federal privacy law. It provides information about privacy for landlords and tenants and can receive complaints about privacy concerns in the landlord-tenant context. 

However, they are often limited to making recommendations, and since they respond to complaints from many different sectors across the country, their capacity is limited. 

There is no specific law prohibiting reasonable video surveillance by landlords. However, landlords must comply with privacy laws and guidelines to respect tenants' privacy rights.

A landlord can use outdoor video surveillance, including door cameras, provided the monitors and recordings are secured. The best practice is for the landlord to post signs and clearly explain to the tenant when and how footage will be used. 

Landlords should advise tenants of the policies before installing video surveillance.

Cameras should not capture the inside of apartments. Monitors and recorded images should be secured and only accessed for the purposes specified in the landlord’s policy.

Overnight guests can cause conflict in any landlord-tenant situation, but in owner-occupied rentals it tends to be a more common source of dispute because it's easy for the landlord to know when someone else has spent the night. 

This most often becomes a problem when the tenant is in a long-term romantic relationship. 

Clauses or rules against having guests, including overnight guests, are usually unenforceable. However, if the guest is there so often that they’re essentially an occupant, that’s different because adding an occupant requires the landlord's consent. 

The law does not set a specific number of days after which a guest can be deemed an occupant. It’s something for the landlord and the tenant can come to an agreement about.

If the landlord and the tenant end up in a dispute about overnight guests, either can apply to Residential Tenancies for dispute resolution. 

This is a tip that applies to all tenancies. Renting a property without visiting it first is never a good idea. 

There’s no right to leave a tenancy just because you feel you made a mistake.  

If you abandon the tenancy, Residential Tenancies will generally award a landlord between 1 and 3 months’ rent after you have moved out, which you will be required to pay. 

Visiting the property is important with an owner-occupied property because you need to consider its layout (see the next tip). 

As you will be living with the landlord, you must consider where your space will be relative to theirs.

For example:

• Where will your room be relative to the landlord's room?
• How is the soundproofing? Will the landlord be able to hear you in your room?
• Will you have your own entrance?
• Will you have to pass the landlord's room to access common areas like the kitchen, bathroom, living room, etc.?
• If you drive a vehicle, where will you park your vehicle?

As you will be living in close proximity and possibly sharing common spaces, try to understand how often you and the landlord will be in the space together. 

Maybe the landlord has a different work schedule than you or doesn’t always live at the property. In these cases, there would be minimal overlap, which may reduce conflict and make the arrangement more attractive to you. 

A landlord can put their own rules into a lease if they don’t conflict with the Residential Tenancy Act (RTA). They must give you a copy of their rules when you sign your lease. Any rule must also be “reasonable,” which means:

• It doesn’t violate the RTA or assign a landlord’s responsibilities to the tenant
• It ensures all services are fairly distributed to tenants
• It promotes the safety, comfort, and well-being of all tenants
• It protects the landlord’s property from abuse

Rules must apply to all tenants equally, and a landlord must clearly explain what tenants must or must not do to obey the rule.

Before signing a lease, tenants should check for any overly restrictive rules. Although tenants are not obligated to follow unreasonable or illegal rules after signing the lease, overly restrictive rules can indicate that you may have problems with your landlord in the future. 

Landlord rules are subject to negotiation. Tenants can ask for rules they are uncomfortable with to be changed. 

A landlord is permitted to use outdoor video surveillance, including door cameras, provided that the monitors and recordings are secured and that they post signs and clearly explain when and how they will use the footage.

Landlords should not be using video surveillance inside the unit. If they do, you should avoid renting from them. 

Adding an occupant to a rental unit requires the landlord's consent. So if you have guests over so often that it starts to seem like they live there, that may cause problems. 

While there is no specific limit on how often a guest can stay before being considered an occupant, it might not be advisable for your partner to stay overnight at your unit for more than half the year.

Crises can arise. These can include mental health emergencies, medical issues leading to incapacity, criminal activities, violent altercations, natural disasters, etc. 

Having a plan in place for these rare but significant events can provide peace of mind and ensure that you are prepared to handle unexpected challenges effectively

Here are some things to consider:

• How close is the property to emergency services in the area?
• Is there a safe place to go nearby if the property is unsafe?
• Do you have a safe method of transportation? 
• If you needed to stay somewhere else for a few nights, where would that be? What would you bring with you?
• Do you have a Will, a Personal Directive, and a Power of Attorney?
• Does your landlord have an emergency contact for you? 

Take some time to learn the basics about landlord-tenant law.  

You can find information about residential tenancies on the Residential Tenancies Program website. 

The Residential Tenancies Program is the program of the Provincial Government that administers the Residential Tenancies Act and deals with disputes between landlords and tenants. It is a program of Service Nova Scotia. 

You can also talk to a staff person at the Residential Tenancies Program directly by calling Service Nova Scotia at 1-800-670-4357 and following the prompts. Alternatively, you can attend your nearest Access Nova Scotia location. 

In particular, some basic things you should learn about are:

• The difference between a fixed-term and periodic lease
• The rules about ending a tenancy
• The Residential Tenancies Program dispute resolution process

Only make rules about the most important stuff

You must apply to the Residential Tenancies Program for dispute resolution to enforce a rule. It only makes sense to do that over important things. 

Not all rule violations are serious enough to justify eviction. Even if a rule is reasonable and there’s evidence that the tenant violated it, a Residential Tenancies Officer may give the tenant a warning rather than evict them.

Not every request needs to be a landlord’s rule

When people live together as roommates, they often establish informal house rules about cleaning common areas, using common elements of the property, sharing chores, and so on. 

Many of those rules would not be appropriate as landlord’s rules. 

However, in owner-occupied rentals, sometimes the landlord is tempted to make even very small requests into formal rules. That’s unnecessary and increases the chance of conflict. 

Make a distinction between your landlord's rules and other requests you make as a co-occupant or roommate. 

Landlord rules are the formal rules you make that are part of your lease agreement with the tenant. These rules cover the most important stuff. Like “no smoking” or “no pets”. 

Other requests can be for the less important stuff; they don’t have to be formal. You won’t be able to evict someone for not obeying these requests, but there is more freedom and flexibility as to what you can ask for. Examples of “requests” might be 

• Run the dishwasher when it is full
• Turn the light off when you leave the room
• Replace the toilet paper roll whenever it runs out. 

As you will be living in close proximity and possibly sharing common spaces, try to understand how often you and the tenant will be in the space together. 

The tenant may have a different work schedule or might not always stay at the property. In such cases, there would be minimal overlap, which may make the arrangement more attractive. 

Tenants have the right to reasonably enjoy and possess the rental premises, including having guests over to visit. 

Most rules against guests or social gatherings are not enforceable. 

Tenants are liable for any damages caused by their guests.

Landlords have an obligation of good behaviour. This means they must behave in a manner that does not disrupt the tenant's right to possession or occupancy of the property.

Don’t abuse your right of entry

A landlord has the right to enter a rental property between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. for any reason as long as they provide 24 hours’ written notice to the tenant. They can also give notice that someone else will be entering the unit, like a superintendent or contractor. 

Although there is no limit on how often this can occur, it’s important not to use your right of entry too often. 

Also, although you’re not obligated to state a reason, it’s important to make sure the purpose of the entry is clear and reasonable.

If you use video surveillance, be transparent about it and keep it outside

Transparency and respecting privacy are crucial when it comes to video surveillance. If you use video surveillance, be transparent about it with your tenants. Communicate the presence and purpose of the cameras. Keep video surveillance outside. Avoid placing cameras inside private living spaces to respect tenants' privacy.

Post signs and clearly explain when and how you will use the footage. Make sure tenants are informed about these policies before the cameras are installed. Ensure that the monitors and any recorded images are secured and only accessed for the purposes stated in the policy. Use the footage only for the stated and reasonable purposes, such as security or property protection.

Crises can happen. These can include mental health emergencies, medical issues leading to incapacity, criminal activities, violent altercations, natural disasters, etc. 

Having a plan in place for these rare but significant events can provide peace of mind and ensure that you are prepared to handle unexpected challenges effectively

Here are some things to consider:

• How close is the property to emergency services in the area?
• Is there a safe place to go nearby if your property is unsafe?
• Do you have a safe method of transportation? 
• If you needed to stay somewhere else for a few nights, where would that be? What would you bring with you?
• Do you have a Will, a Personal Directive, and a Power of Attorney?
• Does your tenant have an emergency contact for you? 

Information for tenants

Residential Tenancies Program - Government of Nova Scotia

Dalhousie Legal Aid - Tenants' Rights Guide

Information for landlords

Residential Tenancies Program - Government of Nova Scotia

Rental Housing Providers Nova Scotia