A Nova Scotia cabinet minister says changes he’s introduced to the Residential Tenancies Act are aimed at getting people out of abusive situations.
   
Service Nova Scotia Minister John MacDonell introduced the changes in the legislature yesterday.
   
They would allow people who have filed domestic violence complaints to get out of their fixed term or year-to-year residential leases early without penalty.
   
In order to get out of a lease, a tenant would have to make an application within 90 days of obtaining an emergency protection order and file a domestic violence complaint to police.
   
They would need a peace bond or some other court order as well as a certificate from the province’s Director of Victims Services saying they are a victim of domestic violence.
   
John Joyce-Robinson of the Justice Department says the changes are modelled on similar legislation in Manitoba.
   
He says the legislation helped six to eight people in Manitoba in the first year it was enacted.
   
The change was recommended in a 2009 government report on domestic violence.