Apartment in Mellieha

its too far ahead for most estate agents to even look at or be interested in as most properties will be gone by then...spookily enough I looked at 2 brand new ones in the centre of the village 450 (2bed)and 500 euros  each (3 bed) and both fully furnished..and theyve been empoty for a good while.......

so they do exist.

Yes, we know that it is early but we just want to have an idea on how difficult or easy it would be to find one.
The apartments you looked at sound nice, I hope that we will be lucky to find one like that when arrive.

My son is going to start at Mellieha school so do you think that it would be best to live up in the town or down by the beach? We would  really like to live by the beach but we've read that it is easier to get mold in the apartment when you live by the sea.

Its down to personal choice at the end of the day - in my opinion - i would say easier to be in the vilage rather than the beach - the beach is a stones throw away...and easy to access albeit down a monster hill. Am thinking in terms of family - access to shopping daily, bus services, nightlife, parks areas, school, library, sports centre, family park....... 

mould is everywhere - believe me.....almost everyone gets this at some point - for some its heavy for others its light and manageable - older proeprties tend to suffer more. its all down to balancing heating and ventilation. the beach area is bleak and empty in winter,  the school is central and central is probably better in terms of family life.

In the north area you have many beaches to choose from ghadiera, mistra, armier, little armier, paradise bay, ramla bay, xemxija, golden bay, ghajn tuffieja and gnejne bay..some are sand some are shingle some dont have beach but have access for swimming.

My advice - dont go anywhere near Frank salt in the village if you can help it...--- waste of space....

redmik wrote:

toonarmy9752 wrote:

My advice - dont go anywhere near Frank salt in the village if you can help it...--- waste of space....

Well I can't question that Toon, perhaps because they operate mostly out of main offices? A bit like a main city bank branch as opposed to a rural one?
I also know that one should beware of some smiling, friendly agents.

Frank Salt have offices all over the island - they must be one fo the largest if not the largest estate agents here..so that can hardly be an excuse


100% true of both agent and landlord....now they truly abide by camerons "we are all in it together" mantra

we have tried using them several times and now we avoid them like the plague..... we only went with some friends last week to look at a few properties and they failed to even keep an appointment - no phone calls or nothing...their office staff are abysmal.

it is indeed sad that i cannot recommend even one estate agent here..

toonarmy9752 wrote:

it is indeed sad that i cannot recommend even one estate agent here..

On that basis and acknowledging your experience I will delete my post. I can't really say as we found our place ourselves.
For what it's worth, I scoured every internet site I could advertising apartments and then e-mailed the owners direct.
Must have sent a fair few and had lots of internet chats with them but got a great one in the end.

To recommend an agency requires both a good firm and a good agent. Frank Salt is a good firm, but unless the agent you speak to is also good, then its a lost cause.

it is still incumbent on the company to provide a level of service commensurate to the fees paid.....and in my and my acquaintences experiences to date it aint happening.

but overall i agree GnG.....

redmik wrote:

toonarmy9752 wrote:

it is indeed sad that i cannot recommend even one estate agent here..

On that basis and acknowledging your experience I will delete my post. I can't really say as we found our place ourselves.
For what it's worth, I scoured every internet site I could advertising apartments and then e-mailed the owners direct.
Must have sent a fair few and had lots of internet chats with them but got a great one in the end.

sadly Red...it is what it is...and it pains me not to be able to do so...

it is a fact here that most agents websites are not/never updated and are months if not years out of date. its also not a good state of play in terms of newbies looking for property when the vast majority of properties advertised are simply not available...ultimately wasting your time and theirs tooo..... but then if they took them off the agents would have empty windows and websites.


welcome to Malta

Here's the thing that puzzles me. There's obviously a gap in the market for a decent, reliable real estate agent that everyone would recommend. Let's say a company that asks for no commission from the tenant, and one month's rent from the landlord. (I know it's not normal practice, but if I owned one of the 55,000 empty properties on the island, I'd be more interested in renting the place than saving 300 EUR.) One that enforced customer service, put down ground rules for its agents and actively solicited feedback from tenants and actually acted on complaints.

If that existed, they'd explode - everyone would recommend them, every prospective tenant would want to rent through them, they'd own the market.

Is there simply not enough people looking for this to work?

We would like to thank you all for the help. We've read many good advices in the forum throughout the last half year

Well,now we know that we should avoid using real estate agents.
But to take up the subject on mold again, is it harmful? Because it sounds like it is very difficult to avoid (and unpleasant)

am not saying they are all bad but i just could not commit to recommending any of them? i simply think its better to find a property via word of mouth as other than the fee theres not a lot of real protection afforded by the agent who tend to side with the landord. after all they do like to look after their own and a new tenant may not stay that long...plus their will be another one along in a minute....

Mould-it can be a health issue if not kept in check or if anyone in the family has breathing / respiratory issues. we have been in our place now for 9 months and havent got any mould at all this time...better location and plenty of ventilation.....and winter has all but been and gone

mada3 wrote:

We would like to thank you all for the help. We've read many good advices in the forum throughout the last half year

Well,now we know that we should avoid using real estate agents.
But to take up the subject on mold again, is it harmful? Because it sounds like it is very difficult to avoid (and unpleasant)

Hi mada3

There are some interesting 'tips'....

Here.......

........and here

Don't let it be a showstopper......the plusses way outnumber the negatives.

Enjoy

Mike

MikeInPoulton wrote:

mada3 wrote:

We would like to thank you all for the help. We've read many good advices in the forum throughout the last half year

Well,now we know that we should avoid using real estate agents.
But to take up the subject on mold again, is it harmful? Because it sounds like it is very difficult to avoid (and unpleasant)

Hi mada3

There are some interesting 'tips'....

Here.......

........and here

Don't let it be a showstopper......the plusses way outnumber the negatives.

Enjoy

Mike

yes they still do despite some of my more negative rants...

pgl wrote:

Here's the thing that puzzles me. There's obviously a gap in the market for a decent, reliable real estate agent that everyone would recommend. Let's say a company that asks for no commission from the tenant, and one month's rent from the landlord. (I know it's not normal practice, but if I owned one of the 55,000 empty properties on the island, I'd be more interested in renting the place than saving 300 EUR.) One that enforced customer service, put down ground rules for its agents and actively solicited feedback from tenants and actually acted on complaints.

If that existed, they'd explode - everyone would recommend them, every prospective tenant would want to rent through them, they'd own the market.

Is there simply not enough people looking for this to work?

couldnt agree more - now theres a novelty - the first ethical estate agent in Malta - what a selling point that would be  - and a blooming miracle if it came to fruition.

toonarmy9752 wrote:

yes they still do despite some of my more negative rants...

Give over.......you are one of the most positive posters on here (and a proper realist t'boot).

Right.......off t'pub to watch my team in their annual relegation battle.

Wish me luck

Mike

aye me toon

Hi mada3,

From my personal experience, it was quite straight forward and easy to rent an apartment here in Mellieha. I have contacted my landlady prior to come to Malta and we arranged to meet up and see the apartment upon my arrival. As I was not sure if I would like it or not, I still booked another apartment in B´kara for 5 nights.

Fortunately, the apartment was really nice and I signed the tenancy agreement on the 1st day I arrived. So, even tough I booked a place for 5 nights, I end up staying there just for 2 nights.

I would advice you to rent something for few days when you get here, in case it takes longer for you to find the place you're looking for. After you arrive in Malta, I reckon it won't take you more than a week to find an apartment.

Good luck
Antonio

Agree with Mantonas - when we came here 5 years ago we did the same - booked hotel for 6 days but found our first apartment in under 3 days.....its not hard just know what you want and need as these are different criteria....think about that long and hard and dont ever take the first property you see there is always something better.. judgement call i think.

Hi,
Thank you very much for your help.
We have booked a holiday apartment for 15 days, so hopeful that will be enough if we have luck like you.
If you have any advice pleace let us know(also about Mellieha school).
Have a nice day

I am sure that 15 days should be more than enough for you to find an apartment...best of luck!

In regards to the primary school, I also need to register my 4 years old son. I am thinking going there within the next few days and I will also give you a feedback about the all process as soon as I have more details.

Cheerio,
Antonio

mantonas wrote:

I am sure that 15 days should be more than enough for you to find an apartment...best of luck!

In regards to the primary school, I also need to register my 4 years old son. I am thinking going there within the next few days and I will also give you a feedback about the all process as soon as I have more details.

Cheerio,
Antonio

It will be interesting to see if they insist on your ID number before you can register you child at the school.

Terry

yes please keep us informed of things

tearnet wrote:

It will be interesting to see if they insist on your ID number before you can register you child at the school.
Terry

Probably they will but let's see how it will go...hopefully by showing the tenancy agreement and explaining that I already applied for the eResidence, they might understand. Will keep the fingers crossed

Hi

It would be really nice if you kept us updated. We visited the school in February but without an appointment but we did manage to talk to the headmistress for awhile even though she was very busy.  She seems very nice.
My son is 7 years old.

Hi mada3,

I have been to Mellieha's primary school this morning and I managed to speak with one of the person's in charge who gave me all the details I need to register my son. Here is the tel number in case you need: 2141 0014.

Basically, that's what you will need to in order to register your child:

- A confirmation of an appointment from the Citizenship in Valleta. She said that as long as you have an appointment booked, that will be enough;
- Your child's birth certificate (translated in English);
- Copy of the tenancy agreement;
- Copy of your child's passport;
- Your child's health certificate. You will need to get this from Qormi Heath Centre (tel: 2148 4453), a vilage near Valleta.
I have called them too and you can get it for free from 8am-1pm Monday to Friday.

She also told me that as soon as I have all these paperwork sorted, my son can start at school, straight away.

Hope this helps

Regards,
Antonio

excellent

Well done Antonio

as toon said....this is excellent and comprehensive information that I'm sure will be very helpful to lots of people.

Mike

Thanks guys

It's a pleasure if I can help anyone as much as I was helped here from all of you!

Cheerio!

Hi Mantonas,

Thank you so much! That really helped and I'm sure it will help many others who wants to register the children.

Hope your son gets to start there soon

And thank you to everyone. This has been a great help.

Have a nice evening

Factual information and advice, excellent.
You know? I can practically feel your excitement of what you are doing.
Prosit!!

Going against the grain, I moved out last week, and came out for a few days four weeks ago to look for a place to live

I found Sandra at sapphire estates in qawra and Dave at Alexander estates in bugibba (he's half English!) both helpful. I have two dogs so was not a run of the mill renter, they took my situation on board then rang landlords to see if they had anything suitable

It was by asking a known dog friendly landlord"what else have you got?" That we came to the apartment I am renting, which so far i'm very happy with, I like the landlord,and his wife, they both seem to think I'm ok,  it's a good location for me, it suits the dogs and I have a view to die for

I agree with the comments on frank salt, useless, they told me nowhere in the north took dogs!! I think they just couldn't be bothered to actually put some effort in

There are other apartments in the building so if you want me to ask the landlord if any are free nearer the time just drop me a message.

Way to go! Very pleased for you. Merħba!!

Thank you! 😊

This has turned out to be a great post for me to read... thanks everyone.

We haven't decided on where we want to live yet, it will all depend on which school we like as to the area.  However, I have a few questions re renting...

What is the norm for renting, does the estate agent take a cut from the renter or the landlord, or both?  One/two months deposit?  Anything to avoid particularly?

Thanks

SillyPennyP wrote:

This has turned out to be a great post for me to read... thanks everyone.

We haven't decided on where we want to live yet, it will all depend on which school we like as to the area.  However, I have a few questions re renting...

What is the norm for renting, does the estate agent take a cut from the renter or the landlord, or both?  One/two months deposit?  Anything to avoid particularly?

Thanks

Hi SillyPennyP

take a look at the following post where 'toonarmy' put together a fantastic list of do's and don'ts  and things to look for when finding an apartment in Malta.

Great advice.............copywrite 'toon'

Add it to your check list.......

Mike

Thanks Mike

normally one month rent up front plus one months rent as deposit and if thru an agent 50% of rent to the agent