Over the years, the laws regulating Rent in Malta have been eminently amended and new laws introduced in a continuous attempt at reaching a fair balance between landlord and tenant. To this day, this equilibrium has not been attained. In fact, some of these laws have been recently scrutinized and deplored by the Superior Courts of Malta.
The turmoil surrounding rent laws saw its inception when the Civil Laws of Malta as initially drafted, provided no real protection to the tenant, owing to the fact that the termination of a rental agreement meant that the tenant was left with no option other than to move out of the leased tenement if the landlord so wished.
This reality was compensated for in 1931 with the introduction of the Reletting of Urban Property (Regulation) Ordinance – Chapter 69 of the Laws of Malta – which proved to be a lifeline for the tenant at the landlord’s expense. The latter was practically forced to surrender the property which he owns to the tenant since this Ordinance afforded the landlord no right to refuse to renew an expired contract of lease with the same conditions, unless the Rent Regulation Board permitted otherwise. The rent payable was also not subject to any negotiations and was very much fixed at a negligible rate.
The 1995 amendments were pivotal in the attempt to balance out the rights of landlords and tenants. An immediate and effective demarcation between contracts of lease which were entered into before the 1st June 1995 and those agreed upon after said date, was made. The contracts of lease which were entered into after this demarcation date were to be regulated by the contract of lease and the Civil Code. On the other hand, the contracts of lease which predate the 1st June 1995 were to keep being regulated by the old laws. Needless to say, this brought about a notable contrast between dwellings which were subject to the ‘fair rent’ established in terms of Chapter 69 of the Laws of Malta and those dwellings which were now being rented out on the free market, with no control or hindrance on the conditions of rent.
Moreover, something which definitely negatively impacted the landlords of tenements which were leased pre-1st June 1995 was the fact that such leases extended to the tenant’s family members as long as they were living in the same household at the time of death of the original tenant under the same conditions of rent that pertained to the original tenant. This practically gave landlords little to no hope of repossessing their property and it was for this reason that new amendments were made whereby the 1st June 2008 was deemed to be the cut-off point after which such leases could not be extendable to grandchildren. A capping on the minimum payable rent was also established and the issues surrounding residential and commercial sub-leases were also dealt with.
The 2018 amendments were yet another attempt at harmonizing the rental situation in Malta, most actively by the introduction of Article 12B to Chapter 158 – Housing Decontrol Ordinance. This Article afforded the landlord a right of application to the Rent Regulation Bord to demand that the rent payable be revised to 2% of the market value of the property, the occupant of which would have converted a title of emphyteusis into a title of lease by virtue of Chapter 158. These amendments also addressed the issues of sub-leases which were to terminate on the 31st May 2018 and the extensions thereof, as well as issues surrounding the rent of Band Clubs.
A landmark ruling on 8th May 2019, the First Hall Civil Court (Constitutional Jurisdiction) presided over by Mr. Justice Lawrence Mintoff in Anthony Debono et v. L-Avukat Ġenerali et as well as subsequent jurisprudence saw the Maltese Superior Courts make a controversial yet bold move when referring to Chapter 69 of the Laws of Malta and Act X of 2009 as ‘unconstitutional’ and blatantly directed the tenants, who in this case were the defendants, not to rely on such laws.
Should you require any further information or assistance on the matter, please do not hesitate to reach out to Dr Sarah Mifsud personally on [email protected]
