Renting property or holiday accommodation in Malta

expat1973 Guest

0POSTS

10 years ago

Hello to everybody!

As I have seen there are a lot of discussions about renting, real estate agencies, accommodation and property in general on Expat forum Malta, think it would be great to share some of my experiences with you.

I worked as a letting agent here in Malta in the past therefore i can give you a my probably more realistic insight into the industry of letting here

. If you go to real estate agencies websites there are a lot of properties to rent. You pick some reference numbers of properties, and you expect that at least one them is available. But unfortunately most of the times agent tells you, that none of this properties is available, and it will even not be available soon. And you wonder – why are then on your website at all? Or why the price is now higher than stated on the website? Answer should be simple: the information on the website about the availability and the price is from the last contract or update information from the landlord. And agency is completely right! Landlords can change their prices whenever they want, and if something goes wrong with tenant, contract may be broken from both sides, and property is at the sudden available again!

So if you are about to rent something, you have to interprete all information from real estate agencies proper way. The fact is that about 99% properties are not available, when you want it, and if the property is really good value for money, it is probably let again even before it is available again! There are hundreds of letting agents in Malta, and competition is fierce, both for the properties and clients.

Especially difficult is renting for the first time, when you come to Malta, in high season. The prices for short lets (6 months and less) are about three times higher calculated per day as for long lets (6 months and more) for various reasons, which I may explain later in a discussion. Renting directly from the owners may be tricky, too. Landlords try to take an advantage of the situation, if they see that you are new in Malta. I know about many scams here, trying to fool people to pay in advance for rent even before the contract is confirmed and signed.

I could write a book about my experiences in the area, so let be enough for a start. Now I am an independent broker in Malta, dealing with in a lot of areas as corporate and financial services, tax advisory, property, etc.. however do not want to be letting agent never again, lol!

If anyone need any advice in Malta feel free to post it, and I am hardly awaiting responses to my post, lol…. As I say: RELAX, ITS MALTA!

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expat1973 Guest

0POSTS

10 years ago

Hello Ian! I would not think about anyone convincing not to go to Malta. It is a great country with great people, but nowhere is perfect. What I miss here is green trees (that maltese miss too), and fresh water.

One more tip for you.... best to come to Malta is end of the year. Prices for lets drop much and availability rises. And do a 1 year long let. Because if you will be doing only 6 month at the time your contract will expire at the beginning of high season. in the spring, do it in March, or latest April.... for a six months, lol

. If I would be the owner I would not do it, but maltese think differently. For them all year is somehow the same.

Welcome to Malta!

IANBIRCH57 Member

10POSTS

10 years ago

Thanks. Don't know if I can hold on till next spring though. I came over on a whim two months ago for a quick break and loved it immediately. I'm a writer and think it's a great stress free place to get some head space away from London . My budget would be around €650 a month and it does look very doable on line atleast but I will be careful and follow your excellent advice! Cheers

JMH71 Member

22POSTS

10 years ago

Same boat as IanBirch57 (greetings from Surrey Quays).

Have read a lot of posts, have trawled through a lot of Letting websites and I think I need to get back to Malta to do this rather than here in London. It looks so easy, but I'm beginning to literally throw my trust at everyone on here who have obviously been through this procedure and come out of it with a mass of experience.

I've already decided that I'm coming over end of October/beginning of November for a few week with a few of moving over for 6 month about end of November/start of December. We've decided on Bugibba, it ticks almost every box and I think would be a good introduction into a lifestyle over there.

expat1973, I've thanked you before but also have top thank you again, really interesting post and given a good explanation as to how things work over there.

bernie_iris_fabian_david Serial expat

337POSTS

10 years ago

Regarding the duration of the rental agreement, I'd like to share the following piece of advice a (very helpful) agent gave us: It might be better to agree to a year's contract even if you're planning to just stay for a shorter time (e.g. 8 or 9 months), as all you'll lose if you leave earlier is the deposit (usually 1 month's rent), but owners are often willing to give you a far better price if the contract says one year - so it pays off in the end.

And with regards to internet it may also be useful to have a contract with a longer term - when I went to Melita, first thing they checked was how long the rental agreement was for...

Bernie

expat1973 Guest

0POSTS

10 years ago

Hi Bernie,

6month or 1year contract - what is better really depends on that, why someone is coming to Malta in the first place. Price for 1year may be lower, but not always. Completely depends on each landlord. Some even do not want to sign contract for more than 1 year, because they are assuming that rental prices will rise, and they can earn more with next contract.

For the first time visiting Malta i would still recommend 6month contract, and then searching for really most suitable place to be in Malta.

Be aware also that if you stay here for 6 months or more in one year, you are already resident of Malta, what means for example that you should not be allowed to drive a car with foreign plates here, and you should get Maltese ID too.

Internet providers want to secure themselves, if the person does not have Maltese ID, most often with larger deposit in the case that you break the contract. The best is that the landlord already has installed internet in the property and you pay just for using it.

What is the rule - always do long let (6 months or more), even if you do not intend to stay so long. I say, you never know, you may like it so much that you stay for all your life. Or opposite, you come for long, but you do not like it so much, and just want to go....

mantasmo Contributor

194POSTS

10 years ago

expat1973 wrote:
Internet providers want to secure themselves, if the person does not have Maltese ID, most often with larger deposit in the case that you break the contract. The best is that the landlord already has installed internet in the property and you pay just for using it.

Interestingly we didn't have any issues with this. Melita wanted a 50 euro deposit on a monthly (on a rolling basis) contract. That's it. Also a slightly higher monthly fee but that's because we had no resident cards, rental contract was just six months, and so on... a very fair deal IMO compared to anywhere else (Spain, UK, Portugal all ask for more documents/guarantees).