Landlord/contract troubles

Hi Summer,

I'm sorry to hear that things have gone so sour with your rental agreement and appartment in Swieqi.

My advice would be to try to come to some kind of mutual agreement as a one year contract is a contract - even if in your mother's name.

The letting agent fee does differ whether you have a short or a long term lease. So I can understand your landlords expectation of reimbursement of the fees. That will save you from having to keep on paying the rent for further 11 months or until he finds a new lessee.

All in all a nasty situation.

I hope you find a reasonable solution.
Ricky

Sorry to hear of your problems, not a great start and can put a dampner on the whole migration thing, but please dont be put off - not all landlords are like this, try if you can to take a property that someone else you know has had and has had dealings with the landlord.
Some people do prepare their own contracts but they are usually based on a letting agents one with maybe a few of their conditions but it still comes down to what you have signed and agreed to. Keep the letting agent involved as a mediator between the two parties - at least that way the landlord cant really ride rough shod over you. Or at least the agent can mediate, and ensure both parties come out of the contract without too much damage.

But as Ricky said a contract is a contract. Leaving early usually only involves losing your deposit and paying for the servcies you have used should it exceed the deposit paid - after all you did sign a 12month lease and he would have had expectation for the larger period of that. We have lost two deposits (325e and 400e) in our journey to find the right property to call home - fortunately for us we have found ours....This is a painful but very valuable lesson when viewing properties, always take someone with you who has lived here for a while (if you can) they know exactly what to look for (not viewing virgins so to speak). Mould is a fact of life here but it can be controlled but your landlord has a level of responsibility as do you, but if its been there for a while then he should really have dealt with it, especially with the level of rent you are paying.

Good luck and hope it gets sorted soon....

By the way did you give the landlord a reasonable time to do the "right thing" and carry our the repair work or not - or are you just wanting out of the apartment and contract coz you have seen something better...sorry to be blunt.

a 500 euro deposit loss is one thing but why are you paying 250 euros a month for services...thats extortionate. let me have you readings at start (date reqd as well as reading) and say today and i can calculate what the bill should be, (both worst case and best case) - that will give you an idea of what you could be paying if all the paperwork is in place and what it should be when you leave. Its your call, so if you want the info PM me here with an email addy ok

talk to the agent - they act for you (well, your mother) as well as the the landlord

"should also say the contract is in my mothers name and she has already left the apartment and got a place of her own, nowhere on the contract is my or my husbands name mentioned nor have we signed anything." - does the contract allow sub-letting ?

Last resort - if it gets nasty - ask the landlord whether his rental income is being declared to the tax man..do you pay by cash or check or DD....if its cash and no official record - as this sort of income often isnt declared. Might be a bit of a lever, not that i condone using this as a means of getting out of your signed contract but if hes not being reasonable...!!!!

Thanks for the replies everyone. I have given the landlord over two weeks to sort out the problems, mainly the keys which were supplied for the laundry room and back gate do not work, no handle on toilet door so it won't shut, shower door also won't shut as door is too wide. As for the freezer breaking down and losing all the contents, well the landlord just shrugged and said it isn't his fault and didn't even offer to reimburse us for the food which was about 50EUR worth. I know he didn't defrost our food but his faulty appliance did. There was an extensive water leak behind our kitchen cupboards which the handyman admitted to after we complained about the smell. We have to wash every dish/utensil everytime we use it and the smell still remains even after cleaning out the cupboards. This is not something he can solve unless some major work takes place.

We paid 250EUR for utilities but the landlord said every month we would get some back if we hadn't used 250EUR worth. He also however takes 10% on top of our actual usage for a contingency. We were supposed to get keys so we could get the readings every month ourselves to keep an eye on our usage, but again this is something that has not happened. Once he works out how much he thinks we owe I will be sure to get the readings as I have the starting numbers.

I am more than willing to pay the pro rata share of the agency fee paid plus 18% as the contract states. "If either party terminates the lease before 6 months, he/she shall refund the other party the pro-rata share of the commission paid to the agent, a fee equivalent to 50% of the first month's rent plus VAT at 18%".

In his email he also states that he has asked the cleaner to skip cleaning our apartment on Monday and instead will get her to clean it after we leave. Our rent includes fortnightly cleaning and so far she has only been once, tomorrow was her day so I think he has a cheek to say that when we have paid for it.

Any more advice?

Thora wrote:

report him to the tax department - they will be happy - it will take a long time for them to check everything but at the end he will loose a lot of his "black" money

what evidence do you have that he isn't reporting this income ???

Hi there! I'm new to this forum and reading through found a lot of good tips, so decided to create an account.

I'm originally from Spain, spent the last 6 years in Ireland and recently I decided to move to Malta (I'm mediterranean after all! )

Don't really know where to post this, as Im new to this forum. My question is related to this topic though. Wanted to know if there's any government department that deals with rent and tenancy related issues. Back in Ireland there were a very useful department called Threshold where you can ask for help in case you have any problems with your landlord or agent...

Is there anything similar in Malta? How do people deal here with these issues? After 2 months of rent started to have problems with my agent and the ways he deals with me and I dont really know what to do.

Thanks in advance!

Hello

As a non resident, you are allowed to terminate any tenancy at any time to go back to your country. You only have to give 30 days notice. Maybe just take a long weekend back to UK then return after this. The landlord wouldn't then have a leg to stand on and you will be free of all ties .

Hope this helps

You have replied to a post from 2013!!

Lance26 wrote:

Hello

As a non resident, you are allowed to terminate any tenancy at any time to go back to your country. You only have to give 30 days notice. Maybe just take a long weekend back to UK then return after this. The landlord wouldn't then have a leg to stand on and you will be free of all ties .

Hope this helps

The post you are referring to is from 2012 not 2013 as I mistakenly put

Yes it's a post from 2012/13 but its information for any non resident tenants how the law stands now.

But thank you for the reply :-)