Renting a property and Landlords

Most of us will probably know what it can be like dealing with landlords. You find nice ones that will do anything to make your stay a great one and then you find nasty horrible ones who set out to rip you off and all manner of invasions.

In Malta, apart from the nice landlords, the only difference is the level of deceit, misinformation and outright dishonesty. They are able to get away with murder in most cases, literally.


Utilities

Electricity and Water is provided by a public company called ARMS, and there are things to watch out for if you don't want to be ripped off by them or your landlord.

In order to avoid paying tax, landlords like to use Domestic Rates for their rental properties by keeping the bill in their name and having a resident of zero in the property.  This means, the tenant will be paying higher rates of electricity and water so the LandLord doesnt have to pay tax.

Before signing anything, make sure the landlord signs a Form H which will allow you to add all of the people living in the property to be registered.

Form H

Support

There is a facebook group called Up-In ARMS, it started as an action group to push ARMS to accept foreigners residence permit to accompany Form H.

This has now become a forum for foreigners and Maltese alike to ask for help regarding landlords and discriminatory issues.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/371466666251933/

Here is an example of Form H and how landlords can screw you

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140613/opinion/The-renting-black-hole.523139#.U5qYmzLyp7g.facebook