Why A Halifax Woman Was Forced To Close Her Home-Based Hair Salon
HALIFAX – Shona Humber was looking forward to operating her own hair salon in Timberlea. She, her boyfriend Jean, and their four children had just signed a rental agreement in April for a house on Sienna Court. Humber was under the impression, upon signing the lease, that having an at-home business was allowed in her neighbourhood.
“We asked the owners of the house if we were allowed to run a business and they said yes,” said Humber, who has been a hairstylist since 2000.
Humber started her at-home salon on June 8 and, despite the pandemic, the business was doing well. She loves being a hairstylist because she gets to know her clients on a personal level.
“It’s all about the people, my clients. They all become my friends,” said Humber.
“I love making them feel and look better.”
Working at home gave Humber a lot of advantages, especially as a mother. When she wasn’t with clients, chores could be completed and, best of all, someone would always be home when the kids got out of school.
But in late summer she encountered a big obstacle. Humber recalls getting a visit from a manager of Brunello Estates, the company that owns the subdivision in Timberlea. According to Humber, she was told during this visit that someone had complained about her operating a business. Apparently, her clients were blocking a neighbour’s driveway. Humber was also told that Brunello’s restrictive covenants didn’t allow people to operate a business at home.
Humber was taken by surprise by the complaint. She says her salon can only take one client at a time, so traffic isn’t a problem on her street. And no neighbour ever came to her privately to tell her a driveway was being blocked.
“I don’t think that any of my clients have been blocking any driveways. It’s just someone was pissed that I was running a business, and that was their excuse,” claims Humber.
“I have been an emotional wreck ever since August when Brunello knocked on my door because I can’t even open the door to my house without keeping my eyes low. I don’t want to look at any neighbours. I don’t know who it is that complained about me. It’s taken a massive toll on me emotionally.”
Despite the warning from Brunello, Humber kept her business going. According to the hairstylist, Brunello never gave her anything in writing telling her to stop.
But her situation changed once again when an HRM bylaw officer visited her on September 23. Humber was informed by the officer that she needed to apply for a permit to operate her business. Humber applied a few days later, but she says her application was denied.
With both Brunello Estates and the Halifax Regional Municipality now telling her she couldn’t run an at-home business, Humber had little choice but to close it down.
On October 7, she also got a written notice from the municipality, stating that her at-home business didn’t comply with the Timberlea/Lakeside/Beechville development agreement. It also notes that she was operating without a permit.
But Humber refused to back down. She posted about her situation on Facebook and it quickly went viral. Someone started a Change.org petition to try and convince Brunello Estates to change the rule and allow Humber to continue her salon. To date, it has received more than 3,800 signatures. Despite the public outcry, Humber says she never did get a response from the real estate company.
“The only time we had been in talks with the management was when he came to the door and told us that a neighbour has complained that cars have been blocking their driveway and that I had been running a business from home,” said Humber.
A representative from Brunello Estates declined to comment on the issue, saying the matter is now being discussed between their legal counsel and Humber’s lawyer.
If there is a silver lining, it’s that Humber is still able to make a living being a hairstylist. After hearing her story, the folks at Adorn Salon and Spa reached out and offered her a part-time job. Humber said Adorn is an amazing place for her to work.
Humber’s lease on the Timberlea is up in April and, as of right now, her and Jean plan not to renew.
Restrictive Covenants Explained
Restrictive covenants can become a controversial issue in many cities. These sets of rules are separate and distinct from city bylaws. They are agreements that are signed when one property owner transfers land to another.
“So, in a subdivision, you might have everyone in the subdivision signing a restrictive covenant with the developer and with each other,” Explains HRM city councilor Sam Austin.
Prior to being a municipal politician, Austin specialized in city planning, so he has studied the issue of restrictive covenants. When asked why restrictive covenants are allowed to exist, given that cities already have their own sets of bylaws, Austin replied:
“Well, that’s a good question. The example in my district is the old Sobey’s Mall on Pleasant street where you have a restrictive covenant that was put in place by Sobeys to restrict future competition. They (Sobeys) didn’t want to be there anymore but they didn’t want anyone else to be there either. When they sold the old mall, they slapped a restrictive covenant on it to limit competition, And that’s pretty standard…”
“In subdivisions, it’s usually a marketing sort of thing. They want their subdivision to look and operate in a certain way.”
The restrictive Covenant at the old Sobeys in Woodside was signed for a 20-year period.
Austin notes that, over the years, certain forms of restrictive covenants have been outlawed. Many decades ago, such covenants were used as forms of discrimination. The city can not change laws around restrictive covenants, as it is a provincial jurisdiction.
“Historically, they were used for horrible reasons. There were often restrictive covenants…banning specific religions or races from living in an area,” explains Austin.
In more recent times, Nova Scotia banned restrictive covenants that prevented people from using clotheslines. Austin said that covenant was often used to prevent “poor people” who would dry their clothes outside from moving into a neighbourhood.
In 2018, Dartmouth South NDP MLA, Claudia Chender, tabled a motion that would outlaw the type of restrictive covenants used in the controversial Sobeys deal.
“[It] would ensure that communities like Woodside don’t turn into food deserts when big-box retailers decide to close up shop,” wrote Chender at the time. “This community in Dartmouth South has a 20-year restriction on a grocery store moving into the former Sobeys’ location. This is simply unfair to the residents a store would serve. Bill 60 has gone through first reading and could still be passed at the government’s earliest opportunity. The NDP will continue to push for this change in the legislature.”