Hints & Tips for considering when looking to rent property on Malta.

no most of the webpages are out of date. you need to contact them really so when you come out they can tell you what is available. I used Simon Mamo and I cant speak highly enough of them. websites out here don't get updated much

Hello everyone,


We are just about to sign a 6 month lease on our new apartment in St. Pauls Bay. As I understand we have to pay 80 euro each month for electricity and water ( for 2 people ) the bills are under our landlord s name, in the contract says he will give the different back if the monthly bill is less then 80...... question is, is this a common practice ? I would probably prefer to pay the exact amount but I v been told that basickly that s the way it works in Malta. Any advice ? In my opinion 80 for water and electricity each month is not small amount, but Im comparing with our bills in Ireland so I may be wrong .


Thanks

Dont sign anything that agrees to pay the landlord the money for gas/electricity unless he is prepared to give you the bill first so you can see how much is owed .
ideally you want to get the bill in your name read information on here about how to do that and only use the above as a last resort

80 euros seems a lot and if you have no idea what the bills are going to be how do you know what hes paying or not

Thank s a lot for the reply. It is stated on the lease that we have acces to the meter so we can check the usage, it also says that once the bill is received by the landlord and presented to us then we settle the difference.

Would this make is safer? for my understanding is we underpaid he will give us the money back


Thanks,

Agnes84 wrote:

Thank s a lot for the reply. It is stated on the lease that we have acces to the meter so we can check the usage, it also says that once the bill is received by the landlord and presented to us then we settle the difference.

Would this make is safer? for my understanding is we underpaid he will give us the money back


Thanks,

my concern is that you wont get the money back and that it will be well ill role it over or you wont get reciepts etc so no proof because they dont tend to deal with paperwork that well

i would cross it out and rewrite that electricity and water will be paid on production of the bill and only the amount required

Thank you

Agnes84 wrote:

Thank you

Make sure you both sign any changes to the contract though or get him to rewrite it.

very urgent   ı need information i will be happy if anyone answer me !!

my wife birtish , ı m turkish  ı got job offer need to start 20 may ,  my wife  can not go now ı need do single permit application it might be a bit long and hard , if ı come with my wife for 10 days    under self sufficent have certain amount to show to goverment , can she leave country after apply residency she need to work anoher 3 months her current job she need back to home country  or she must stay in malta until get residency !!

thank you so much for answer!

Btttldmr You will need to ask this question in a new post for it to get seen but the short answer is NO either you and your wife come here she applies for residency with you as her spouse and you will be allowed to live and work here without permit 

Part of the application form states that your wife is agreeing that the declaration she signs is that there would be no reasons for a refusal of residence to you ... And her not being residence here would mean you wouldn't be entitled to residence unless you apply as a non eu citizen and then residence is not always gaurenteed.


Or you come here and apply like everyone else's

That being that you need a visa and a work permit


Also it will take more than 10
Days to get your residency card and as you will need to apply for and collect the cards in person

thank you very much for answer  sorry for post here !!it means it is not possible  , she must stay in malta ! so only thing ı need apply visa and single permit application.iff ı come with tourist visa can ı apply there in malta for work permit or ı must do  before ı come to malta from country where ı live.

btttldmr wrote:

thank you very much for answer  sorry for post here !!it means it is not possible  , she must stay in malta ! so only thing ı need apply visa and single permit application.iff ı come with tourist visa can ı apply there in malta for work permit or ı must do  before ı come to malta from country where ı live.

are you currently living in Europe?  with your spouse?

no ı m currently live in malaysia ! and here no malta embassy ı need to go Austria embassy but ı read they will not process for long term visa actually ı need only 3-4 months work visa my wife will come august !

Right then you will need a Visa, to enter Malta  even if you came with your spouse because your coming outside the eu you will need a schengen visa to enter Malta.

Your rights to live and work here without restriction are dependent on your partners rights and because she isn't intending to exercise those rights till august then those rights aren't conferred on you .

Your company will need to apply for a work permit for you this may delay your start date significantly

Your'e honestly best off waiting till your partner comes out and applying together

Agnes84 wrote:

We are just about to sign a 6 month lease on our new apartment in St. Pauls Bay. As I understand we have to pay 80 euro each month for electricity and water ( for 2 people ) the bills are under our landlord s name, in the contract says he will give the different back if the monthly bill is less then 80...... question is, is this a common practice ? I would probably prefer to pay the exact amount but I v been told that basickly that s the way it works in Malta. Any advice ? In my opinion 80 for water and electricity each month is not small amount, but Im comparing with our bills in Ireland so I may be wrong .

Well just to give you a second opinion - that is how some rental contracts work in Malta. It depends on agency/landlord/not sure what else. We rented through Dhalia and had to pay rent + 50 for water and electricity every month.

Our landlord would email us screenshots of his enemalta and whatever else bills every month. We also had access to both water and electric meters and it was very easy to keep track of usage. In the end we agreed that we'd settle the final electric/water bill at the end of the initial six months and we ended up paying about 150 extra on top of the 50 monthly so about 50 * 6 + 150 = 450 for six months (water and electric). Water is very pricey in Malta!

So yea 80/month sounds about right to be honest. We didn't have/run ACs.

do not accept this method of payment for utilities - 9 times out of 10 you will be paying too much.... an certianly lots more than your landlord is paying for the same utilities he uses.

always get, see and study the bill closely  - make sure you are to be registered as consumers on the bill by getting form H signed by him and make sure this happens prior to signing anything, make it part of the contract - do not take his word as his bond  - this is often the first mistake and they change their mind after you have signed up.

if he refuses to sign FORM H or will not make it part of the contract  RUN LIKE USAIN BOLT

also be aware of the potential for the Landlord not to pay over to the supplier, the cash you hand over for the utility bills (believe me too many have been caught out by this).... make sure you pay by a recordable traceable means  online transfer. cheque or as a last resort cash with proper receipt.

if they wont sign form H and will only take cash its a surefire sign that you will end up with massive bills and even bigger problems to follow  -  as the landlord is highly likely to be evading tax too... so be warned

I spoke to the agent yesterday , unfortunately it is not possible to transfer the bill under our names or to pay the exact amount , bill arrives every 3 month and then we sort balance with our landlord , he assured me there is nothing to be worry about re overpaying / underpaying ,to be hones sounds pretty reliable , also we spoke to people who still live in the apartment and they said they never had any problem with the landlord..... I guess we have no choice as it wasn't easy at all to find the right place anyway

WELL THE ESTATE AGENT WOULD SAY THAT WOULDNT HE

sorry but i wouldnt trust them if my my life depended on it.

if he only gets bills every three months - thats a tad suspicious immediately

as for other tenants in the block are they being charged residential rates? - do they even know about it? - maybe they are questions you should ask.


anyway its your call   be careful you dont end up with a problem that you ahve been warned about

Good luck

hey sorry to butt in but I specifically asked my agent to find a place where the bills are in the landlords name and they pay it and I pay them. unless things have changed, in the last year, they get a better rate than us expats. its usually every 2 months the bill comes in (but this is malta so dates vary as do end dates on each bill)

my landlady pays the bill when she gets it, I pay her on the next rent day and I get a copy of the bill and a receipt for the cash.

works very well.

There is no difference in rates between Maltese and expats, it's exactly the same!

Ray.

thanks for clearing that up but I think you mean with a valid Residency card? which we don't get when we first rent until a few months later

redders_61 wrote:

thanks for clearing that up but I think you mean with a valid Residency card? which we don't get when we first rent until a few months later

You don't need an eResidence card, a passport will be sufficient.
Also it has now been shown that you can still get yourself added as residents even if the Landlord won't sign the form, Toon posted on this a week or two ago!

Cheers

Ray

oh ok when I moved here you paid a deposit. personally I prefer its in their name they pay it I pay them, usually gives me 3 to 4 weeks before I settle up. guess its a personal preference thing now

redders_61 wrote:

oh ok when I moved here you paid a deposit. personally I prefer its in their name they pay it I pay them, usually gives me 3 to 4 weeks before I settle up. guess its a personal preference thing now

Sadly not all landlords / letting agents are genuinely thinking of their tennants ...

But she has been advised of what she should do now it's up to her and maybe it will all work out ok ...

yep I hear you on that one, mine is 5 star and a friend to me too. seems I was just lucky. last june, when I had pneumonia, they did shopping for me and we had days out around the island too

no deposit is required  - my earlier post stated you dont need the permission of the LL either - albeit there may be repurcussions etc etc etc etc etc

I would never simply pay a bill on presentation without it being on the residential rate .. and would require it to be paid via a recordable method...and never direct to the LL....

you are a bit more overcautious than I am. My LL pays the bill, it is stamped and dated by post office then I get it and pay them next rent day. plus I get a receipt for the money on top of that and any outstanding debt would be in their name not mine. so I don't see the problem with that anymore than paying the rent cash in hand with a receipt (although I did say I am not bothered about a receipt but get one anyway)

overcautious..... with a damned good reason to be.......

Thanks so much for this valued  article  and the time you spent on it. Thank you

form H is now here

Form H Download

Watch out for this guy

http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/ … 6736139242

me3512 wrote:

form H is now here

Form H Download

this link is the wrong form - its actually the old form from 2010 that doesnt include for the use of a passport as identification document

the new form is dated 2013 in bottom right of second page

I have the correct form.....if anyone wants it please message me here PM and i will mail it to you

NB Arms have been told and given a copy (LOL) of the proper form to update it but alas it hasnt changed and that was over a week or so ago

Is there any thread which gives a rundown of the different areas around Malta and the advantages and disadvantages of each area?

b4bmm wrote:

Is there any thread which gives a rundown of the different areas around Malta and the advantages and disadvantages of each area?

no not really , just read about other peoples experiences and choose somewhere you feel would meet your needs
i would suggest visting malta a few times to get an idea of areas if you havent already been

Might be a good idea for a sticky for someone with time on their hands and experience in the lay of the land.

I would be happy to look into this for you btw

however may i suggest you post what your looking for in terms of work area, family , schools etc an we can suggest areas for you but i would say that everyone is different

I have not too many great needs as I am a single male.
If I was to move there I doubt I would have transportation unless I was to purchase a scooter (would that be cheap and are they used over there, I read cars can be expensive there not to mention the maintenance/insurance and other ongoing costs with that) so convenience would be nice, depending on the premium of that convenience price wise. I do like to have reasonably modern accommodation/low maintenance.

Places that have good access to shops (groceries/markets), convenient to maybe some good but not necessarily fancy eateries and some bars/cinema. I always find value in the services of a library here in Australia. I would like to go to the gym from time to time, a healthy body is a healthy mind they say. Access to reliable internet. Im not a huge beach fan but it doesn't hurt having ocean views. Just the needs any single male early 30s would require I guess.

would you be working over here ?
we me and my husband live in marsaskala in the south of the island we have sea views easy access to shops and its cheaper and quieter than living up north - matt buses into sliema for work and it takes about 1hour and a half depedning on traffic
i would advise against riding a scooter here - purely because roads are undermaintatined and driving can be quite eratic.
you can get home broadband in most places and its failry good value , some appartments wil come with wifi but most you get the internet installed yourself .

if you want access to clubs then you would need to live within a short distance of st julians  there are night buses friday and saturday.

appartment prices will vary depedning on area and time of the year  .

1 hour and half, wow is traffic really bad or just at peak hours? I thought the island would be travelable from top to bottom in half an hour/45mins or maybe my view on the size of the island is flawed. Regarding use of a scooter I am used to driving in Asia on scooters/motorbikes, not sure if you have been to Asia but I doubt Malta would compare worse to the driving antics in Asia, or the roads for that matter? Being on a scooter is also handy when traffic is heavy, can zip on through often. Is Sliema the main hub of Malta then or what about Valetta and do accommodation prices reflect that? How do you rate Gozo?

I dont have any plans to "work" there but I may pick up a job/part time job if something comes up or if I get bored.
Being an electrician I dont think there would be many options available to me and that is not part of the reason I would be
moving to Malta. I would be spending my time studying on investing, whether that is through online courses/websites, reading books or maybe doing a course there of some sort if thats available. Im also interested to learn about making an income from online sources possibly also. Malta is attractive to me for the fact that it doesn't charge taxes on individuals who earn income abroad if that income stays abroad. Malta also doesn't charge tax on foreign capital gains even if those monies are remitted to Malta so essentially my investments abroad that I may be lucky enough to profit on will- I'm hoping be tax free. I would have to become resident for this to be the case to take over from my current Australian residency on which I get taxed through the arse.

I'm not fully dedicating the move I make to Malta but am also trying to look into other places and figure out which would best suit my needs, lifestyle and budget. Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines and U.A.E are others I have looked at or am looking into. Some may be for now out of my budgets limits, as I want a relatively cheap base to start with to sort out my affairs and get some structures in places. This is why I ask such a broad question about accommodation because its hard to study each country in dept but maybe I won't have any other option but to do so.