MALTA TENANT SUPPORT
  • Home
  • About
  • Rental Contracts
  • A chronology
  • Blog

Onus now on the landlord to ensure that the tenant is on the correct Arms tariff

21/4/2021

0 Comments

 
Article 17 and Article 7f of the new Residential Leases Act legislate for the burning issue of tenant utility bills.  Over the decades thousands of tenants have overpaid by thousands of euro on their Arms bills.  Despite the best efforts of many - including yours truly - Arms, the sole, state owned utility billing company, continued to overcharge tenants for their utilities with impunity.  I am confident that Article 17 and Article 7f of the Residential Leases Act will put paid to this, once and for all.  ​
Picture
The gist of the legislation is as follows:

1.  The landlord has to make sure that their tenants are on the correct Arms tariff for people living in their primary residence.  They can do this by completing Sections A and C of Arms Form H - Change in the Declaration of Number of Persons.  All occupants of the rental property need to complete Section B.  Both landlord and tenants need to provide copies of identification documents.  
Arms Form H.pdf
File Size: 1182 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

2.  If the landlord does not do this, then they will be liable for any overcharge incurred by the tenant, with the tenant allowed to deduct any overcharge from the rent.  

​3.  The tenant must have access to the proper Arms bill - green, 2 pages.  If the tenant does not have access to the Arms bill, then they are not obliged to pay the bill.  Please note that the Arms online calculator, for various reasons, is not a reliable indicator of the cost of your utilities.  The Arms online calculator itself contains this disclaimer:  
Picture
4. The landlord cannot take the law into their own hands and unilaterally cut off any water and electricity supply to effect an illegal eviction, no matter the perceived justification.  This has always been a criminal act but over the years landlords, letting agents and sometimes even lawyers (I kid you not) have decided that landlords could behave in this way.  This is in breach of Article 85 of the Criminal Code:
Picture
5.  Article 1570 of the Civil Code provides a legal mechanism for the eviction of defaulting tenants.  If a tenant fails to pay the water and electricity bills, then this will be considered to be a partial default and will entitle the landlord to demand a dissolution of the rental contract.  The contract will be terminated if the tenant fails to pay the outstanding Arms bills or the outstanding rent within fifteen days from the notification of a judicial letter. 
Picture
6.  Article 7 lists a series of forbidden clauses.  If any of these forbidden clauses are listed in a rental contract they are completely without effect.  Therefore the tenant can rest assured that these clauses can be ignored. 

Article 7f prohibits clauses which stipulate the payment of a fixed amount on account towards the Arms bill.  This ties in with Article 17f which stipulates that the tenant is not obliged to pay unless given access to the proper Arms bill - green, 2 pages.
Picture
Furthermore Article 7f stipulates that the tenant must only pay for their consumption of utilities.  Therefore the landlord cannot pass on the bills of previous occupants of the rental property to their new tenants.  I would advise all prospective landlords and tenants to therefore make sure that they complete Arms Form N - Authorisation of Verification of Pending Dues at the start of the tenancy so as to zero the Arms bill.  
Arms Form N.pdf
File Size: 111 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

If a tenant wants to be a joint account holder with the landlord of the Arms bill, then a deposit of 466 euro and a non refundable fee of 50 euro are payable.  Arms Form F2 - Temporary Recognition of Tenant in Rented Premises will need to be completed.  The tenant will then be responsible for the completion of Arms Form H to make sure that they are on the correct Arms tariff for people living in their primary residence.  
Arms Form F2.pdf
File Size: 127 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Personally I do not see any advantage in being an account holder.  Going the Arms Form H route is completely free and the Residential Leases Act is very clear that the landlord will be liable for any overcharge.  

Finally, if there are any breaches of the Residential Leases Act where Arms bills are concerned, then for the price of 10 euro, either party can submit an online dispute.  The Residential Leases Act is very clear on the obligations of both landlords and tenants where Arms bills are concerned.  A decision will be made by the Dispute Panel within 5 working days of last submissions.  
0 Comments

The three types of post 1995 residential leases

12/4/2021

0 Comments

 
The extensive consultation with all stakeholders of the white paper team before the Residential Leases Act came into effect established a need for 3 different residential contract scenarios:

  • Long Private Residential Leases
  • Short Let Contracts
  • Shared Residential Space contracts

​Moreover, it was established that these three renting scenarios needed to be distinct from holiday lets.  Short holiday lets fall under the jurisdiction of the Malta Travel and Tourism Services Act and completely depend on whether or not the person occupying the property for the duration of the short holiday let is a tourist or not.  This is how the Malta Travel and Tourism Services Act defines a tourist:  
Picture
All three types of residential lease above must be registered with the Housing Authority.
 
For more information on contract registration, please click on this link:  
Essential information on the post-2020 rental contract)​

Long Let Private Residential Leases


​Before the 2020 Residential Leases Act, the practice of letting the property for a period of 9 months, for example, in off peak season, and then to tourists as a holiday let in peak season was probably one factor causing rents to spiral ever upwards.  This also caused huge insecurity for tenants caught in this situation.   

Therefore, long private residential leases cannot have a duration of less than 1 year.  This means that a contract of 8 months, for example, will be considered to be a contract for 1 year.  
Picture
Before the 2020 Residential Leases Act was enacted, tenants were kept in the dark as to whether or not the landlord was going to renew the contract until very close to the end of the contract.  This was another factor causing rents to spiral and also causing huge uncertainty for some tenants.  Effectively tenants were sometimes only given days' notice of a sizeable increase in rent, which made the option of looking elsewhere for a property within budget impossible in the limited time available to them.  

This problematic behaviour was addressed by the Residential Leases Act.  Post 2020, if the landlord does not want to renew the contract, then they must give 3 months' notice of this to the tenant by registered mail. If they do not do this, then the contract is automatically renewed for another year.  
Picture
Pre 2020, if a tenant wanted to exit the contract earlier than the end of the contractual term, they would still be held liable for the rent of the remaining contractual period if the property was not let to another party in the meantime.  This was problematic for some tenants for various reasons.

In line with many other countries, therefore, tenants can withdraw with no penalty from a long private residential lease:


  • after  a period of 6 months when the rental contract is for a period of less than 2 years
  • after a period of 9 months when the rental contract is for a period of 2 years or more but less than 3 years
  • after a period of 12 months in the case where the rental contract is for a period of 3 years or more
​
If the tenant withdraws from a long private residential contract before the lapse of the di fermo periods specified above, then the landlord may retain an amount not exceeding 1 month's rent from the deposit left by the tenant.  The landlord may choose to take legal action against the tenant for any other outstanding amount. 
Picture
This is a standard long private residential contract, taken from the official Housing Authority website:  
long-private-residential-leases.pdf
File Size: 170 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File


Short Let Contracts


​Short let contracts of 6 months or less are only for the categories (a) to (d) listed below:  
Picture
A short let contract has to identify which of the categories (a) to (d) it falls under and also provide evidence for this.  If it does not do this, then the contract will be deemed to be a long let residential contract. 

The maximum length of a short let contract is 6 months. 

Short let contracts cannot be extended and therefore neither party needs to give any notice. 

The di fermo period for short let contracts is 1 month.

After the di fermo period of 1 month the tenant may withdraw from the contract without penalty as long as they give 1 week's notice by registered mail.
Picture
This is a standard short let contract, taken from the official Housing Authority website:
short-private-residential-leases.pdf
File Size: 407 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File


Shared Residential Space


​The 2020 Residential Leases Act defines the letting of shared residential space as "the letting of any separate space in an apartment or building, with shared amenities, such as kitchen and bathroom facilities."

The duration of a contract for the lease of a shared residential space is 6 months.

The tenant may withdraw from the lease at any time by giving 1 week's notice by registered mail.

Shared residential space contracts cannot be extended and therefore neither party needs to give notice.
Picture
This is a standard contract for a shared residential space, taken from the official Housing Authority website:  
letting-of-shared-residential-space.pdf
File Size: 406 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File


0 Comments

Essential information on the post 2020 rental contract

6/4/2021

2 Comments

 
The  Residential Leases Act came into force on January 1st, 2020.  I will be  writing a series of information blogs which will hopefully help you become more aware of your rights and responsibilities under the new rent law. 

​This first blog in the series will include details of how to  make sure that your rental contract is  compliant with the Residential Leases Act.  Every rental contract must contain the seven essential requirements listed below in order for the registration process of the contract with the Housing Authority to be conducted as smoothly and efficiently as possible.  
Picture
Picture
 If the contract does not contain one or more of the above seven essential requirements, then it will not be possible to register the contract with the Housing Authority and the contract will be null and void.  ​ Please note in particular the inventory, which is often forgotten. 

Also please remember to get your landlord to sign Arms Form N - Verification of Pending Dues.  This will zero the Arms bill so that you will not pay for the bills of previous occupants of the rental property.  Please click on the link below for a copy of Arms Form N:  
n-_authorisation_of_verification_of_pending_dues.pdf
File Size: 111 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Finally please remember to ask your landlord to sign Arms Form H - Change in the number of persons declaration.  Your landlord will complete Section A of this form; all the occupants of the rental property will complete Section B.  Landlord and occupants will have to also provide copies of photo identification.  This will make sure that you are on the correct residential utility tariff for people living in their primary residence.  The default tariff is the second home tariff which is extortionate, especially for water.  The only way to be on the correct utility tariff for people living in their primary residence is via Arms Form H.  Please click on the link below to download this form:   
h_-change_in_number_of_persons_declaration_31072015__1_.pdf
File Size: 1182 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

For a standard rental contract taken from the very useful and official Housing Authority rental website, please click on the link below:   ​
long-private-residential-leases.pdf
File Size: 170 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Picture
The landlord must register the contract with the Housing Authority within ten days of the commencement of the lease.   If the lease is registered after ten days then there will be an additional fee. If the landlord fails to register the contract within the ten days, then the tenant can register the rental contract at the expense of the landlord.  ​
Picture
It is in both your interests and the interests of the landlord to make sure that the contract is registered.  If it is not registered, neither party will be able to access the protection provided by the Residential Leases Act or the Maltese Civil Code.  Moreover, neither party will be able to submit a dispute. The facility of submitting an online dispute costs 10 euro and a decision will be made by the Dispute Panel within 5 working days of last submissions.  There are many clauses in the new rent law which protect the tenant from various problems to do with renting, for example, the overpayment on their consumption of water and electricity and the unjustified retention of their deposit.  I will be looking at these in more detail in other blogs.  This means that a tenant will definitely win a dispute if, for example, they are on the incorrect Arms tariff for people living in their primary residence.  

If the landlord refuses to register the contract and the tenant cannot register it because it is missing one of the seven essential requirements, then there is the option of reporting the tenancy.  This will  mean  fines / prosecution in a criminal and / or civil court of law for the landlord plus the Housing Authority fixing the rent for the tenant at below market rent rates. Th
e Housing Authority will first have to establish that the tenant is indeed living in the rental property.  

One final note.  Please do not be surprised if your rental contract contains clauses which are forbidden clauses, listed under Article 7 of the Residential Leases Act.  The Housing Authority has limited resources.  It registered circa 30 000 rental contracts in the first year of the Residential Leases Act, and therefore is unable to check the minute detail of every clause of every contract.  These clauses will hopefully die a natural death as more and more letting agents / landlords / tenants learn more about the intricacies of the 2020 Residential Leases Act. Rest assured, however, that these clauses are completely without effect.  Therefore you can ignore them completely and with no ill effect.  Also, please rest assured that the Residential Leases Act and the Maltese Civil Code trump any clause in any rental contract, no matter what any letting agent or landlord may tell you.  
Picture
Picture
2 Comments

    Author

    Johanna MacRae

    Archives

    April 2021
    July 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.