Living Costs

Ricky...  I think this ones for you

Welcome to the forum Ron Haslam

Hi Ron,

Welcome to the Forum.

Malta is a great place to retire to. But don't count on it being cheap.That depends on your personal situation.

If you hold a UK passport and will be receiving a pension from an EU country you and your Russian wife should not have any residency issues.

Cheers

Ricky

Hi Ricky,
Thank you for your reply. As long as it is even a little cheaper than UK then we will be happy. We have done some research & flats to rent seem to be 70% of what we pay here & we found out there are Lidl's over there, but anyway we are flying over on 15th Jan so we can check out. We know there is no Council Tax in Malta but we will pay 15% income tax, fair enough. We are not sure whether to ship all our furniture & our car or not. We do have a British Pension & other income to live off. We have only been in UK since August after living in South Africa for many years & do not like it here at all, but we cannot afford to make another mistake.
Would really appreciate any advice you can give us.

Regards
Ron Haslam

Hi Ron,

As most rental properties in Malta are furnished you will be more flexible in your choice if you leave your furniture in storage in the UK until you have found the right place here.

It is easy to move to a new place without furniture if you are not happy with your first choice and I would go for a 6 month rental contract at the beginning with the option of extending.

It is very easy to find a place as there are literally hundreds ,if not thousands of places on the market.It is a renters market!

If you have not owned the car in the UK for at least 2 years you will have to pay registration tax for the car when you become a resident . The whole process is quite complicated and you will have to research the issue as to how it works and what documents are needed.

We can get together when aou are here in January.

Cheers

Ricky

Hi Ricky, thanks for your advice. Have just about decided that bringing my car is not an option.Our intention if everything fits is to make Malta our home for good, I have now retired & do not have to worry about ferrying kids around, been there, done that & got t shirt. I would like to buy you a beer when we arrive in Jan & meet you & your wife, will give you our Hotel later. Must say I am enjoying just reading all letters on Forum & learning as I go. Wishing all you gals & guys on Malta everything of the best.
Ron

Are you sure you need to own a car for two years before moving to Malta ? I thought that, as a Permanent Resident, you needed to own it for at least 6 months previously.

That (6 months) used to be the case up until about 6 years ago, and only referred to the Permanent Residency Scheme, which isn't the same as being a permanent resident. It no longer applies even under the Permanent Residency Scheme

From the FAQ on the Govt. Vehicle registration web site: https://secure2.gov.mt/vehicleregistration/faq?l=1

see b) - that seems to cover it.

A13. I reside outside Malta and I will be transferring my residence to Malta. If I
bring my vehicle with me what will be the amount of Registration tax that I
have to pay?
If you bring your vehicle permanently into Malta when transferring your
residence from a place outside Malta to a place in Malta you will not pay any
registration tax subject to the following conditions, and subject to proof of all
the these conditions as requested by the Authority for verification:
a) You shall have been residing outside Malta for at least twenty four
months;
b) The motor vehicle has been in your possession for at least twenty-four
months before the change of residence;
c) It had been acquired under the general conditions of taxation in force in
that other country and is registered in your name;
d) No such exemption shall be given to a person who had gone to live
outside Malta primarily for the purpose of pursuing a course of studies, or
who had been working outside Malta on a task of duration of less than
two years and his personal ties remained in Malta;
e) The said exemption shall apply to no more than one motor vehicle owned
by you;
f) The motor vehicle cannot be disposed of, hired out or lent during a
period of 36 months following its importation or its bringing into Malta,
except in circumstances duly justified to the satisfaction of the Authority;
g) The registration of such motor vehicle must be processed within 12
month of the individual’s transfer of residence.

Ronald88 wrote:

we will pay 15% income tax

Ron

There may be a wider point emerging here.  If you come to Malta under the "Permanent Residence Scheme", you will indeed pay 15% flat tax on your income.  If you're not an EU citizen, then that Scheme may well be the right (perhaps only) way for you to get in.  If, however, you have UK (or other EU) citizenship, you could consider "ordinary residence" as an alternative to the Scheme.  And your income tax position would then be different.  Perhaps for better, perhaps for worse - it depends.

If you are an EU citizen, and so have the choice, I suggest you could usefully get some proper professional advice about which means of gaining residence would work best for you given your circumstances. 

All the best.

John

Thanks all you guys for advice. I bought a 2009 1.4 deisel Ford only in August so I will be nailed by someone that's for sure, so think I will sell here & buy smaller in Malta. I'm more concerned at the mo if we can get to Malta mid Jan with this awful weather we have just now & the usual British lack of knowing what the hell to do when it snows, same for 60 years in my experience. Glad when we are living in Malta, the white stuff is great on photos & postcards, they can have it.
I was born in UK & have EU passport, my wife is my dependent & Schengen Visa. Thanks John, I hear you.
Ron

Ron,

You might still want to consider bringing your car, if you like it. Cars in Malta are expensive, so even though you will have to pay the registration tax it might still be worthwhile to do it....plenty of people in Malta import cars from the UK and pay the registration tax and shipping and it still works out cheaper than the comparable car sourced locally on Malta :-(

Tim

Don't think I will be able to Tim, as I have said before, I only bought it a few months ago & according to the rules & regs I have read on Wikipedia, you have to have owned for two years before you can bring. I will check out car prices in Jan. Many thanks.
Ron

Ron, that doesn't sound right to me - I don't see why someone moving here would be penalised that they can't bring a car with them - so long as they pay the registration tax. I believe the 24 month rule is the qualification to be exempt from the registration tax only...but of course I may be wrong and it's your money so do whatever you feel most comfortable with.

Tim

Tim is correct

Ron - which wikipedia article are you referring to ?

Hi Ron,

As this thread started out the point is whether you have to pay car registration tax or not.

You can bring just about anything from anywhere in the world to Malta , including cars.The main question is always how much tax do I have to pay for the item I'm bringing into the country.

For cars and tax exemptions Tim's post and link are very good and give details.

So it can well be worthwhile to buy a car in the UK , bring it to Malta and just pay the registration tax and still have a better deal than buying the same car in Malta.

There is a registration tax calculator at :

http://www.valuation.vehicleregistratio … t/Car.aspx

Regards
Ricky

Thanks guys you were correct, & Ricky the Registration fee of Euro 1,685 (from your calculator) is probably less than I would lose by selling here,never mind other reasons.
May I be just a little more trouble to you all & ask what are the average costs per month for Electricity & water for 2 people living in a 2 bed flat.The rest I will be able to sus in Jan.
Cheers
Ron

I am in a 2 bedroom flat with a small nook of an office, and I know my bills are lower an most, but my electric is about 20-35 euro depending on how mush I have my servers running.  My internet was 13 Euro and I just upgraded to the 30 euro per month package. Water is included in my rent.

Hope that helps.

Chad

Thanks a lot Chad, that will do for me.
Ron

Hi Ron,

We have a 4 bedroom duplex with modern lighting (halogen) and are two . . We don't use AC at all and our meter says we are using around 80 €/month.Just cooking,washing machine and dryer , TV and computers and water boilers.

Hope that helps.Seems in line with Chad.

Ricky

Thanks Ricky 80 Euro's per month seems more realistic than 20 per month. I can handle that figure. How about water bills, I guess that it must be from desalination which costs money. Roughly how much per month, & what is the quality like, can you drink it or is it necessary to only drink bottled water ?
Cheers
Ron

For what it's worth we run about €100 a month for electricity - but we're a family of 4 including a teenage girl! You have to remember that the summers are VERY hot and so if you have air conditioning you might be tempted to turn it on and that will cost you...and the winters do have periods when it is quite cool/damp and you might want to heat it (and use a de-humidifier)...we have electric heating/air con units and try to use them sparingly...some friends of ours use the gas heaters that are very common/popular here and they say they use about €15 a WEEK in gas...I can't speak to how representative those numbers are and like most things everyone seems to have a different spin on it.

Water bills aren't much I don't think - not sure of the amount. We only drink bottled water - the water form the tap is safe to drink, just doesn't taste very nice....that may vary by area. 2L bottles of water from the supermarkets are not very expensive, but of course more than tap water.

Tim

Thanks for your input Tim, again is in line with what Ricky said.

I think I study the more from here, although it not useful for me now. It's really a big difference with China.

Hi Guys, Happy New Year to you all.

We are arriving there on Saturday week the 15th for one week, we are staying at the Topaz Hotel Bugibba. It will be great to have a beer with any of you, Ricky, Chad, Tim or John, if you can spare an hour to swing by our hotel, I have no way of contacting you unfortunately.

Cheers
Ron

I like Buggiba, Ill be there!  send me a reminder either before you leave or after you get here.... 

I'm up for it - let's see if we can co-ordinate a night.

Tim

Hi Ronald,

We are flying to Germany for one week on the 15 January so we won't be able to make it. Would have been great to get together with you and the others.
So count on us the next time.

Regards
Ricky

That is a shame Ricky but hope you have a great trip to Germany.
It is very likely we will need to fly back to Malta in Julyish to sort out somewhere to live, hope to meet you then.
Ron

Ok Tim, I'll try. How about Wednesday evening 19th Jan at 8pm at the Topaz Hotel, meet in the Foyer
Ron

Sounds good - I'll put it on my calendar.

Tim

On my calendar as well.   see you soon

Hi Tim, is the water really OK to drink?  I dont actually drink it (prefer a G&T!!) but a guy that does some decorating for me told me it wasnt safe to drink...forget all the stats he reeled off about whats in it thats unsafe but surprised to hear its ok...

Tap water is safe but tastes a little salty, so many people use either bottled water or have a reverse osmosis system at home for drinking water and tea/coffee - realistically,  if it wasn't safe, the EU wouldn't allow it...

Uven (Eagle) is planning on attending on the 19th also.

Ron - how will we know you?

Tim

I have to drop out of tonight's get together as I have a sick family and I have to stay home and help look after the kids.

Sorry
Tim

I just called your hotel to try to reach you as well, but I don't know your surname so I couldn't reach you.

I have to drop out tonight as well unfortunately, because like Tim's family I am sick and in bed for the day.  I MUST be in bugibba tomorrow AM and again in the evening though to drop off/pick up my wife at work.    I would be interested in meeting then if you have time.

Also I will PM you my local phone # and we can set something up that way if you'd like.

Sorry
Chad

Hi Guys,

I never received any of your emails before we left home to travel to Malta last Friday evening so I could not finalise any arrangements, but thanks for trying & hope all of you & your families are now well.
We enjoyed Malta very much & will now sit down & start making all the arrangements necessary to move there. We also intend to travel back again for another visit before moving, so we will meet up then.
We saw almost everywhere on the Island & Gozo & we particularly liked Slima, Naxxar & St Pauls area so we now have a fair idea what we are doing. Very impressed with the transport system & the prices, I heard Arriva are starting up soon, I hope the prices don't change too much, we found the buses a great contributor towards a wonderful holiday in Malta.
Cheers
Ron Haslam (for the record)