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Part II .

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Mortgage Regulation Act Exemption Regulations

made under

Section 90 of the

Mortgage Regulation Act

S.N.S. 2012, c. 11

N.S. Reg. 120/2020 (effective November 1, 2021)

amended to N.S. Reg. 272/2025 (effective December 10, 2025)

Table of Contents

Please note: this table of contents is provided for convenience of reference and does not form part of the regulations.

Click here to go to the text of the regulations .

Citation

Definitions

Persons exempt from Act

Conditions for exempting persons doing simple referrals

Exemption from mortgage administrator requirements

Exemption from requirement for licence to act as mortgage broker

Exemption from requirement for licence to act as mortgage broker or administrator

Exemption from requirement for licence to act as mortgage lender

Citation

1 These regulations may be cited as the Mortgage Regulation Act Exemption Regulations .

Definitions

2 In these regulations,

“Act” means the Mortgage Regulation Act ;

“Community Business Development Corporation” means a not-for-profit company

limited by guarantee and publicly funded in part through the Government of

Canada’s Community Futures Program to provide business loans and foster

economic development in rural Nova Scotia;

“mortgage professional” means a mortgage lender, mortgage brokerage, mortgage

broker, associate mortgage broker or mortgage administrator;

“syndicated mortgage” means a mortgage in which 2 or more persons participate,

directly or indirectly, as a lender in a debt obligation that is secured by a mortgage.

Persons exempt from Act

(1) All of the following persons are exempted under subsection 3(1) of the Act from

the application of the Act:

(

a) a bank or an authorized foreign bank, as defined in the Bank Act (Canada);

(

b) a body corporate to which the Trust and Loan Companies Act (Canada)

applies;

(

c) a retail association as defined in the Cooperative Credit Associations Act

(Canada);

(

d) a company as defined in the Insurance Companies Act (Canada);

(da) a Community Business Development Corporation;

(db) United Way Maritimes, a federally registered non-profit corporation

operating in the Province, when engaged in mortgage lender activities in

accordance with subsection (2);

(

e) a director, officer, employee or other representative of a person that is

exempted under clauses (

a) to (db), when acting solely on behalf of the

person;

(

f) a person that undertakes mortgage brokerage or lender activities, but only if

each mortgage related to those activities meets all of the following

conditions:

(

i) the mortgage loan is for an amount greater than $1 000 000,

(ii) the Cost of Borrowing Disclosure Regulations made under the Act

do not apply to the mortgage loan,

(iii) 1 of the following applies:

(

A) none of the investors in the mortgage is a private investor,

(B) 1 or more of the investors in the mortgage are private investors,

and a person that is exempted from the Act under clauses (

a) to

(

e) or by

Section 5 brokers the mortgage on behalf of each

private investor;

(

g) a person that refers prospective borrowers to mortgage professionals and

meets the conditions of

Section 4;

(

h) a person that refers mortgage professionals to prospective borrowers and

meets the conditions of

Section 4;

(

i) a person that undertakes activities in relation to a syndicated mortgage that

are regulated under the Securities Act .

(2) For the exemption in clause (1)(db) to apply, the mortgages being offered must be

in accordance with the corporation’s not-for-profit purposes and offered to provide

affordable housing opportunities to low and moderate income households.

Conditions for exempting persons doing simple referrals

4 All of the following are the conditions required to be met for a person that makes

referrals to be exempted under clause 3(

g) or (h):

(

a) the person informs the prospective borrower in writing of all of the

following before making a referral for which the person has received or may

receive a fee or other remuneration, directly or indirectly:

(

i) the amount of the fee or other remuneration or, if the amount of the

fee or other remuneration is not ascertainable at that time, a

reasonable estimate of the fee or other remuneration,

(ii) if the remuneration is in a form other than money, the nature of the

remuneration,

(iii) the nature of the relationship between the person and the mortgage

professional;

(

b) in referring a prospective borrower to a mortgage professional, the only

information that the person provides to the prospective borrower, in addition

to the information required by clause (a), is the name, address, telephone

number, fax number, e-mail address or website address of the mortgage

professional or an individual who acts on behalf of the mortgage

professional;

(

c) in referring a mortgage professional to a prospective borrower,

(

i) the only information that the person provides to the mortgage

professional is the name, address, telephone number, fax number,

e-mail address or website address of the prospective borrower or an

individual who acts on behalf of the prospective borrower, and

(ii) the person obtains the written consent of the prospective borrower to

give the information referred to in subclause (

i) to the mortgage

professional.

Exemption from mortgage administrator requirements

(1) The Central as defined in the Credit Union Act and a credit union to which the

Credit Union Act applies are exempted from the mortgage administrator

requirements of the Act and regulations while acting as a mortgage administrator

on behalf of an investor that meets any of the following:

(

a) the investor is exempted under clauses 3(

a) to (c);

(

b) the investor is a credit union established under the laws of a province of

Canada;

(

c) the investor is an entity owned or controlled, in whole or in part, by a person

to whom clause (

a) or (

b) applies.

(2) A director, officer, employee or other representative of a person that is exempted

under subsection (1) is exempted from the mortgage administrator requirements of

the Act and regulations when acting solely on behalf of that person.

Exemption from requirement for licence to act as mortgage broker

(1) Subject to subsection (2), a person who is a director, officer, employee or other

representative of a credit union to which the Credit Union Act applies is exempted

from the requirement to hold a licence to act as a mortgage broker while acting as a

mortgage broker on behalf of a person that meets all of the following:

(

a) the person is exempted under clauses 3(

a) to (c);

(

b) the person is owned, controlled or affiliated with the credit union.

(2) A person is exempted under subsection (1) only if the person meets all of the

following:

(

a) the person is acting in its professional capacity on behalf of a client;

(

b) the person is not holding themself out as being a mortgage broker.

Exemption from requirement for licence to act as mortgage broker or administrator

(1) Subject to subsection (2), all of the following persons are exempted from the

requirement to hold a licence to act as a mortgage broker or mortgage

administrator:

(

a) a practising lawyer as defined in the Legal Profession Act , but only while

engaged in an activity that they are insured for under their professional

liability insurance;

(

b) a trustee in bankruptcy;

(

c) a person acting under an order of the Court;

(

d) a person acting on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen in Right of the Province

of Nova Scotia, Canada or another province of Canada, but only if the

person is not otherwise required to be licensed.

(2) A person is exempted under subsection (1) only if the person meets all of the

following:

(

a) the person is acting in its professional capacity on behalf of a client;

(

b) the person is not holding itself out as being a mortgage broker or

administrator.

Exemption from requirement for licence to act as mortgage lender

8 A person to which any of the following applies is exempted from the requirement to

hold a licence to act as a mortgage lender and is exempted from

Section 25 of the Act

respecting designating compliance officers:

(

a) in any period of 12 consecutive months, the person lends its own money on

the security of 4 or fewer mortgages with an aggregate amount of not more

than $1 000 000, and the person does not hold itself out as being a mortgage

lender;

(

b) the person is a director, officer, employee or other representative of a person

that is exempted under clause (a), and is acting solely on behalf of the

person.

Legislative History

Reference Tables

Mortgage Regulation Act Exemption Regulations

N.S. Reg.

120/2020

Mortgage Regulation Act

Note: The

information in these tables does not form part of the regulations and is

compiled by the Office of the Registrar of Regulations for reference only.

Source Law

The current consolidation of the Mortgage Regulation Act Exemption Regulations made

under the Mortgage Regulation Act includes all of

the following regulations:

N.S.

Regulation

In force

date*

How in force

Royal Gazette

Part II Issue

120/2020

Nov 1, 2021

date

specified (date that Act comes into force on proclamation)

Oct 9, 2020

216/2022

Nov 1, 2022

date specified

Oct 7, 2022

148/2024

Sept 1, 2024

date specified

Aug 9, 2024

272/2025

Dec 10, 2025

date specified

Dec 26, 2025

The following regulations are not

yet in force and are not included in the current consolidation:

N.S.

Regulation

In force

date*

How in force

Royal Gazette

Part II Issue

*See subsection 3(6) of the Regulations Act for

rules about in force dates of regulations.

Amendments by Provision

ad. = added

am. = amended

fc. = fee change

ra. = reassigned

rep. = repealed

rs. = repealed and substituted

Provision affected

How affected

2, defn. of “Community Business Development Corporation” ............

ad. 148/2024

3 ........................................................

ra. as 3(1) 272/2025

3(da) ............................................

ad. 148/2024

3(e) ..............................................

am. 148/2024

3(f)(ii) ..........................................

am. 216/2022

3(1) ...................................................

ra. from 3 272/2025

3(1)(db) .......................................

ad. 272/2025

3(1)(e) ..........................................

am. 272/2025

3(2) ...................................................

ad. 272/2025

Note that changes to headings are not

included in the above table.

Editorial Notes and Corrections

Note

Effective

date

Repealed and Superseded

N.S.

Regulation

Title

In force

date

Repealed

date

Note: Only

regulations that are specifically repealed and replaced appear in this

table. It may not reflect the entire

history of regulations on this subject matter.