Moving from Italy with family and house research in Malta

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Bhavna

Oisin Jones-Dillon wrote:

Insist on Form H from your landlord because if your household is billed for water and electricity consumption at the incorrect rate, the overcharge ranges from 43% to 103.4% more expensive. The average overcharge is 85%.

Source: maltatenantsupport.weebly.com/blog/a-comparison-of-the-three-rates

You can take form H to ARMS to register your family as resident at the premises without your Landlords agreement although in doing so you will almost certainly upset the Landlord!

We have rented two different properties here and the difference with 2 residents has never been more than about 30 - 35%. You can check it for yourself on the ARMS 'bill calculator' on there website, just  choose numbers for readings and then switch from 0 residents to whatever number in your family.

Bill Calculator - https://www.smartutilities.com.mt/

Ray

It will obviously depend on the consumption. 

But if you do look at the comparison of the three tariffs on Malta Tenant Support, you will see that the overcharge does range from about 43% to 103%, if you consume the allowances allowed at the residential tariff, with the correct no. of residents listed on Arms Form H.

At the correct residential tariff, you are allowed 33 cubic metres of water per person per year at 1.40 euro per cubic metre and 1 750 units of electricity per person per year, below which you will get an eco reduction. 

So, what I did was work out the cost of:

33 cubic metres of water and 1 750 units of electricity (1 person)
66 cubic metres of water and 3 500 units of electricity (2 persons)
99 cubic metres of water and 5 250 units of electricity (3 persons)
132 cubic metres of water and 7 000 units of electricity (4 persons)
165 cubic metres of water and 8 750 units of electricity ( 5 persons)

**at the residential tariff
**at the incorrectly applied domestic tariff designed for owners of empty or occasionally used
    second homes
**at the non residential tariff, designed for businesses.

At the domestic tariff, you are only allowed 33 cubic metres of water per year at 2.19 euro per unit of water.  No matter how many people live in the property.  Beyond the 33 cubic metres of water, you pay a staggering 5.14 euro per cubic metre of water!

You also pay more per unit of electricity and you are not entitled to any eco reductions.

It's a state sanctioned scam.  Please take care everyone.  Do not sign any rental contract unless your landlord has signed Arms Form H and provided you with a copy of his id, front and back.

I have just checked using ARMS bill calculator and a new bill which we received yesterday, both electricity and water usage were below the maximums for the best rate. (440Kw and 4 Cu M.)

If I changed the calculation from Residential with 2 occupants to Non-Residential with 0 occupants the increase was 67%.

I then did the same but increased the usage to be above the maximums (600Kw and 14Cu M.) and the increase was only 22%

There is no 'Domestic Tariff' option on the ARMS calculator!
(Our actual bill showing 4 Cu M. was estimated and is normally 12 - 15 Cu M)

Ray

You said:  "There is no 'Domestic Tariff' option on the ARMS calculator!"

Indeed there is.  I quote from the Arms online calculator:  "Please be advised that if you qualify under the Domestic rate you are to choose the Residential rate and input 0 as ‘number of persons registered’."

I don't understand what you mean by this:  "I then did the same but increased the usage to be above the maximums (600Kw and 14Cu M.) and the increase was only 22%".

A household of 2 is allowed a maximum allowance of 3 500 units of electricity per year (291.6 units of electricity per month), below which an eco reduction is applicable, and 66 cubic metres of water per year (5.5 cubic metres of water per month).

Johanna MacRae wrote:

I don't understand what you mean by this:  "I then did the same but increased the usage to be above the maximums (600Kw and 14Cu M.) and the increase was only 22%".

A household of 2 is allowed a maximum allowance of 3 500 units of electricity per year (291.6 units of electricity per month), below which an eco reduction is applicable, and 66 cubic metres of water per year (5.5 cubic metres of water per month).

Your figures above are for one month whereas normal bills are for 2 month periods so the maximums are 583.2Kw  and 11 Cu M. which is why I increased the figures to 600 and 14 to be above that maximum and this shows the differential between Residential with 2 occupants and Non-residential with 0 occupants as only 22% more.
This example was just to show that the difference is not necessarily as high as quoted by yourselves and other groups!
This has now gone way off the topic started by the OP and so I will make no further comment as the subject of Tariffs has already been covered extensively on this and other sites.

Ray

I agree this has gone off point but unfortunately you do not seem to understand the Malta Tenant Support comparison of the three tariffs.

The overcharge DOES range from 43 to 103% if you look at consumptions of water and electricity at the respective allowances for households of varying occupants.  The calculations are there for all to see.

The above may be out of point.  However, I will point out to all prospective tenants living in Malta to make sure that they ask their landlord to sign Section A of Arms Form H BEFORE signing the rental contract OR paying a deposit.  Otherwise they may be committing themselves to paying at the extortionate, incorrectly applied domestic (No. of registered occupants = zero) or non residential tariffs, for the term of the contract.

Our ex landlord took out a garnishee order on our bank account and my salary because we refused to continue overpaying at the incorrectly applied domestic tariff for our family of 5.  Two years of court appearances later, the magistrate ruled that 'Ignorance is no excuse' applied as much to our landlord as it did to us.  So we split the 1 600 euro overcharge. 

All I am trying to do is save prospective tenants the trouble and expense of being overcharged and/ or court action.

Johanna MacRae wrote:

I agree this has gone off point but unfortunately you do not seem to understand the Malta Tenant Support comparison of the three tariffs.

The overcharge DOES range from 43 to 103% if you look at consumptions of water and electricity at the respective allowances for households of varying occupants.  The calculations are there for all to see.

The above may be out of point.  However, I will point out to all prospective tenants living in Malta to make sure that they ask their landlord to sign Section A of Arms Form H BEFORE signing the rental contract OR paying a deposit.  Otherwise they may be committing themselves to paying at the extortionate, incorrectly applied domestic (No. of registered occupants = zero) or non residential tariffs, for the term of the contract.

Our ex landlord took out a garnishee order on our bank account and my salary because we refused to continue overpaying at the incorrectly applied domestic tariff for our family of 5.  Two years of court appearances later, the magistrate ruled that 'Ignorance is no excuse' applied as much to our landlord as it did to us.  So we split the 1 600 euro overcharge. 

All I am trying to do is save prospective tenants the trouble and expense of being overcharged and/ or court action.

I am afraid that until you publicised 'Malta Tenant Support' I had never heard of them, but then it turns out to be your own website!
Your statistics are swayed to suit your ends, the example I quoted showed a difference of 22% and everyone can try it for themselves so your minimum figure of 43% is factually incorrect.

You fail to mention that the tariff can be changed without the landlords permission, you may upset him but he can't take you to court if you pay what that bill from ARMS says.

Definitely my last post on the subject!

Ray

Yes, it is my website.  I don't understand what the problem is.  I only set up the website so that prospective tenants get the information we didn't get when we rented for the first time in Malta.  I get absolutely nothing from people looking at the website but a satisfaction that I may have helped tenants avoid the Arms/letting agents/landlords fraud triangle.

This website is meant to help expats moving to Malta. I do not understand the suspicious, ungracious tone of your replies to what, after all, are my attempts to help.

As to your accusation that I choose figures to suit my own hidden agenda, I don't have a clue what you are talking about.  My only agenda is for tenants to avoid being fleeced. 

I still do not understand your figures or what you say are their implications. My figures apply to 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 person households at the residential tariff allowances for 1 to 5 occupants.  The consumption may be less or indeed more than these allowances.  That is not the point.  My calculations compare apples with apples and oranges with oranges. 

Anyway, we have had interchanges before.  I can see that I will get nowhere with you.  Never mind.  Have a good Sunday. 

Hello, my daughter has just rented a property in Naxxar from Bel Air and she was very happy with their help and support in finding somewhere to live.
They are in Naxxar itself, look them up , we went with her to view the property too and we were impressed with the lady that showed us around.
Hope it all goes well for you and your family
Best Wishes
Debbie