A group of apartment dwellers in Halifax are worried proposed changes to the Nova Scotia Residential Tenancies Act won't address their needs as renters.

Dalhousie Legal Aid hosted a meeting Thursday night attended by 25 people concerned about living conditions.

Cole Webber, a community legal worker with Dalhousie Legal Aid, said renters have few rights under the province's tenancies act as it stands now.

"We know that tenants lack adequate protections in Nova Scotia. Landlords can evict tenants without reasons. Tenants are constantly having their security deposits stolen, tenants are unable to get needed repairs done to their apartment units," he said.

"So, we need greater protections in the residential tenancies act to address these types of problems."

Angela Weal described the Halifax apartment she moved into in 2004: "Mice, there was mold in the kitchen, fans that weren't working. It was a long list of items."

Weal said her landlord refused to fix any of the problems, and the residential tenancies board was slow to hear her case.

Webber said landlords are now pushing for the right to evict tenants who are late paying rent after 14 days, instead of more than 30 days, as it now stands.

More should be done to protect renters under the act, rather than landlords, he said.

"The residential tenancies act is the landlord's act. It protects landlords and their interests, and it doesn't provide basic rights that all tenants should have," Webber said. "It doesn't acknowledge that housing is a fundamental human right that all people should enjoy."

Webber adds that under the current act landlords can evict tenants without justification within the first five years of a renter's stay in an apartment.

Nova Scotia is just one of two provinces with a five year probationary period for tenants, Webber said, and that rule makes tenants afraid to complain about substandard living conditions.

"I think it results in a lot of tenants being discriminated against for a variety of reasons whether it's because of their source of income or their family status — how may kids they have," he said.

"You see a lot of tenants being evicted because they become basically inconvenient for landlords, not necessarily because they're failing to uphold their obligations under the act."

Changes to the Nova Scotia Residential Tenancies Act could happen during the fall session of the provincial legislature, Webber said.

But some landlords say they need protection, too.

Bruce Fraser lives in Halifax, but runs an apartment building in Ontario where it's more difficult to evict tenants.

"If they become a problem, then it's very difficult for the landlord to maintain a good building," he said.