Tenants rights to residential tariff

I was under the impression that this right to register as residents without the Landlord's permission already was in place, it was just that many ARMS employees were ignorant of the fact.
Either way if there are announcements in the press, take copies with you, as you can almost guarantee that ARMS staff will be oblivious to it!

Ray

Nope Arms legal dept has always resisted any changes as the law needed to be changed  - they would also state quite vehemently that they can only act on the instructions of the account holder ie the owner - tenants were not recognised by Arms at all to the point they even openly admitted that the majority of tenants were, to all intents and purposes invisible to Arms.....(and i have that in black and white from the Arms  legal dept) we now know that law has now been changed - allowing ANYand ALL tenants irrespective of nationality to go to Arms with their lease and id card to get the residential tariff without any interaction with the owner / landlord.

Actually, this outcome has nothing to do with Patricia Graham’s purported meeting with Dr. Konrad Mizzi or the Prime Minister, Dr. Joseph Muscat, or ARMS Ltd, but the conclusions of the European Parliament Committee on Petitions and the European Commission:

Further to Petition No 1737/2013 by Johanna MacRae (Maltese) / Facebook Group - Malta Tenant Support https://www.facebook.com/groups/1424089257881379/ - on discrimination due to the two-level pricing system for electricity and water in  - http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/get … condRef=02 - the European Commission stated that it is not satisfied with the response of the Maltese authorities regarding water and electricity tariff discrimination against tenants in the course of the European Parliament Committee on Petitions meeting held on Tuesday, 14th July, 2015 - during which, 6 separate petitions concerning various instances of institutional discrimination against non-Maltese EU residents were examined.

Please see the video stream of the meeting at the 2 hour - 36 minute mark.

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/n … -14072015-(PM)

Purported  !!!!

it has everything to do with that meeting

yes there have been many petitions  of which i have  submitted many - and many get thrown out due to the fudged replies by the authorities and their MEPs who dont seem to "understand" even though they state they do 

The petitioner you mention is also very active in this regard and am sure those petitions and others were involved at some stage.  However feet on the ground work far better than any petition ever has.... the EU machine works but far too slowly  to be effective

Well done to the Up In Arms Group and the Malta Tenant Support groups for all their hard work

Despite this absolutely fab news there are and have been discussions ongoing regarding issues linked to this matter

such as
direct payments by tenants to the account - bypassing the landlord.
is a valid lease document essential - think of the situation many of us have been in -  a continuous tenancy which has exceeded the initial term without a formal renewal

other things to consider  - will a LL ask why they need a renewed agreement? will they take the opportunity to increase the rent? will they become angry once they realise its being done behind their back as they are no longer in control of the account and thus cannot deny form H to the tenant (for their own tax evasion reasons)

ultimately will there be a backlash and in what form will it happen?

We'll all have to move to Cyprus



Ray

Toon wrote:

Despite this absolutely fab news there are and have been discussions ongoing regarding issues linked to this matter

...

ultimately will there be a backlash and in what form will it happen?

I have to say I can see some serious issues regarding the new regulations, as well:

First, I like to maintain a good relationship with my landlord - can be useful if you, e.g., lose your keys, have questions re. rubbish collection, etc, etc. (been there, done that). If , as a tenant, I (have to) start doing things behind his back, I believe this is a bad situation to start with... And there will inevitably arise more issues.

Secondly: If I remember correctly, the Up in Arms group and others have found that the difference in the costs for electricity/water is about 30% if you're on the wrong tariff. Now, if your bills are about 50 EUR (as in our case), that would be about 15 EUR (VERY roughly calculated) of a difference, i.e. I'd pay 35 instead of 50. However, if my landlord decides that, because he now needs to pay tax, he'll increase the rent from 475 EUR to 525 EUR next time my rental agreement expires, I've lost much more than I've gained (i.e. I pay 35 Euros MORE!)!

Personally, I don't care if my landlord pays tax. I know he should, we all should, but I'm not working for the tax office, and even though it may be wrong, unfair, etc. not to pay tax, there are so many wrong, unfair, ... things in this world that my landlord's tax is not my first priority - especially if his avoiding tax means that my rent is cheaper.

Bernie

only IF he declares it  - most dont and wont - but what they will do is take the commercial opportunity and in reality the overcharges can be upto 105% depending on how many live in the house  = for example, if there are 5 people the cost to you WILL rise extortionately

do the math

F0xgl0ve wrote:

We'll all have to move to Cyprus



Ray

Cyprus has a lot of problems - but not this one

bernie_iris_fabian_david wrote:

Toon wrote:

Despite this absolutely fab news there are and have been discussions ongoing regarding issues linked to this matter

...

ultimately will there be a backlash and in what form will it happen?

I have to say I can see some serious issues regarding the new regulations, as well:

First, I like to maintain a good relationship with my landlord - can be useful if you, e.g., lose your keys, have questions re. rubbish collection, etc, etc. (been there, done that). If , as a tenant, I (have to) start doing things behind his back, I believe this is a bad situation to start with... And there will inevitably arise more issues.

Secondly: If I remember correctly, the Up in Arms group and others have found that the difference in the costs for electricity/water is about 30% if you're on the wrong tariff. Now, if your bills are about 50 EUR (as in our case), that would be about 15 EUR (VERY roughly calculated) of a difference, i.e. I'd pay 35 instead of 50. However, if my landlord decides that, because he now needs to pay tax, he'll increase the rent from 475 EUR to 525 EUR next time my rental agreement expires, I've lost much more than I've gained (i.e. I pay 35 Euros MORE!)!

Personally, I don't care if my landlord pays tax. I know he should, we all should, but I'm not working for the tax office, and even though it may be wrong, unfair, etc. not to pay tax, there are so many wrong, unfair, ... things in this world that my landlord's tax is not my first priority - especially if his avoiding tax means that my rent is cheaper.

Bernie

i hear what you are saying but the % you're talking about could easily be 105% more,  depends on how many people are actually living in the property and that difference you relate to could be significantly more - so its not as easy as you make it sound.

Further do you feel it right that you should pay far more for the same water and electricity your landlord uses... these costs are also impacted upon by the recent over use of prepaid meters that are illegal in that most are not supplied or installed or approved by Enemalta and WSC who are the only licensed resellers of electricity and water.  made even worse by the fact that landlords can and do set the rate of charge to significantly more than the specified rates of charges set by the MRA, plus they cannot provide an official record of electricity and water usage as is required by EU legislation.

There are more things too - that only pukka regulation can protect against

News coverage

http://www.tvm.com.mt/en/news/no-need-f … ty-tariff/