Parking tickets in Halifax: how to pay, dispute and what happens next

Ways to pay

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Disputing a ticket

• You have 30 days from the date the ticket was issued to ask for an administrative review. Only certain violations can be reviewed, and you attach the supporting documents the City lists for each.^[1]
• Ask online through the City’s dispute portal, by mail with a Ticket Review Form to Parking Enforcement, PO Box 1749, Halifax NS B3J 3A5, by emailing the form to parktick@halifax.ca, or by dropping it off at a Customer Service Centre. Allow 7 to 14 business days for the outcome.^[2] Official page
• No Parking (code 01) can be reviewed if you were a delivery or service vehicle (with a receipt, invoice or work order showing date, time and location) or your vehicle had broken down (with a repair or tow receipt). A parking-ban ticket (code 05) can be reviewed for physicians, police, military police and fire crews on duty, active loading or unloading, taxis at a taxi stand, and utility vehicles, with a letter from your employer where the City asks for one.^[2]
• Other reviewable tickets: private property and accessible-zone-on-private-property tickets need written authorization from the property owner or manager; an accessible-zone ticket needs your valid permit number; a fire lane ticket only if the lane isn’t City-approved, with a letter from the owner; a pay-station ticket for on-duty Department of National Defence vehicles, delivery or service vehicles, loading of 30 minutes or less, or a ticket with no zone letter on it.^[2]
• A ticket you have paid can’t be disputed, and there are no refunds, because paying is an admission of guilt.^[1]
• Tickets issued on private property can’t be reviewed by Parking Services staff directly: to dispute one, the property management group must send written authorization asking for the ticket to be cancelled.^[1]
• If the City reviews your ticket and finds it valid, you can still fight it in provincial court. A Summons goes to the registered owner with a date for an arraignment, where you only enter a plea. A not-guilty plea gets a trial date. A friend or relative can enter the plea if you can’t attend.^[1]

Deadlines, amounts and what happens if you wait

• The ticket is due 60 days after it was issued. You can pay the City until 11:59 p.m. the night before your arraignment court date; after that it can only be paid to the Provincial Courthouse.^[1]
• The discounted price applies only if you pay within the time frame printed on the front of the ticket. Halifax uses incremental fines: more violations in a set period can mean a higher tier, and the ticket shows the discounted pre-court amount.^[1]
• A 2023 council report lists the Province’s first-offence amounts: $25 for Category A (for example, parking where a sign prohibits it, at a bus stop, within 5 m of a crosswalk or hydrant, on a sidewalk or in front of a driveway), $50 for Category B (for example, parking that might interfere with snow removal) and $100 for Category C (a fire lane, or an accessible zone without a permit).^[5]
• The same report lists second and third offences of $50 and $100 (Category A), $100 and $200 (B) and $200 and $400 (C). A paid or proven ticket counts as an offence, and the higher amounts apply only once a ticket reaches the court system.^[5]
• A pay-station violation was set at $45, or $40 if paid in the first seven days, in March 2022, according to the same report. Check your ticket for its amounts.^[5]
• If you neither pay nor make a plea as the Summons directs, a Justice enters a conviction in your absence and the fine on the front of your original ticket applies.^[1]
• The Registrar of Motor Vehicles may refuse to renew your licence or vehicle permit until the fine is paid, and may add a fee.^[1]

Towing and good to know

• In a No Stopping zone, a vehicle that has ceased moving is deemed stopped even if occupied, and it will be towed and impounded.^[4]
• Vehicles may be ticketed and towed for any violation at the officer’s discretion. To find a towed vehicle, search the City’s towing portal (hrm.aimsparking.com/tows) and contact the tow company shown. You’ll need a valid driver’s licence, the keys and money; you retrieve it at your own expense.^[3]
• If it isn’t in the portal, call Halifax Regional Police’s non-emergency line, 902-490-5020. For other tow questions, call 311 or email parking@halifax.ca.^[3]
• The City lists two tow companies: A-1 Towing, 902-865-4575, and Excel Towing, 902-809-4357, open Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.^[3]
• Tow disputes go through Nova Scotia Small Claims Court, not the City’s review.^[3]
• Halifax’s on-street paid parking is pay-by-plate and pay-by-zone: you need your licence plate and the zone letter (A to J), and you can buy time in 15-minute steps.^[6]
• During the overnight winter parking ban (December 15 to March 31, enforced 1 to 6 a.m. only in declared weather events), cars on the street can be ticketed or towed.^[7]
• The City doesn’t send correspondence about outstanding parking tickets by text message.^[1]

Sources

1. Halifax Regional Municipality: Parking tickets
2. Halifax Regional Municipality: Request for Parking Ticket Review form (PDF)
3. Halifax Regional Municipality: Towing
4. Halifax Regional Municipality: How to avoid a parking ticket
5. Halifax Regional Council report, April 25, 2023: parking fines
6. Halifax Regional Municipality: On-street parking
7. Halifax Regional Municipality: Overnight winter parking ban

Rates and rules change. Check the official page before you park; these were last checked October 30, 2026.

Researched by the Parkeas team from the official pages above. Parkeas is independent: not affiliated with the Cities, venues, hospitals or universities named in these guides. How we check these guides