Bill No. 99 - The Assessment Act. - Second Reading

CLAUDIA CHENDER: Mr. Speaker, I have very few comments. As I spoke to earlier on the Tourist Accommodation Act, this bill also generally strikes me as going in the right direction on Airbnb and short-term rentals. It does help level the playing field and, again, makes the distinction that we think is important, which is the one between hosts who are renting a room in their primary residence and hosts that are essentially running a short-term business.

It does appear that, combined with the registration of tourist accommodations, large short-term rental businesses will start paying commercial property taxes, which frankly, I think is important because otherwise the playing field is not leveled with hotel operators and others that follow those rules. Importantly, we're not penalizing small hosts and regular Nova Scotians who just want to rent a room in their home, as we discussed earlier.

We are concerned about some decisions that are left to regulation here. We're not clear whether this will only apply to primary residences and how many rooms will be exempted. All of those are things that we'll be looking for in the regulations. We'll look forward to more information and to the Law Amendments Committee, and to ensuring that the consultations on this topic are adequate. With those few words, I'll take my seat.