KNOW YOUR RIGHTS AS A TENANT
The residential leases act requires that any rental contract has the following:
- The address of the premises;
- What the premises will be used for, in this case for residence;
- The duration of the contract (has to be a minimum of one year);
- How the contract can be renewed. Remember the landlord must give you a minimum 3 months notice before the end of the contract by registered mail if they wish to terminate the lease;
- The amount of rent and how it will be paid, whether it is cash or direct debit;
- The deposit amount;
- An inventory stating the condition of the premises and the state of furniture and domestic appliances.
The extensive consultation with all stakeholders of the white paper team before the 2020 Residential Leases Act came into effect established a need for 3 different residential contract scenarios:
- Long let residential contracts
- Short let residential contracts
- Shared space residential contracts
Moreover, it was established that these three renting scenarios needed to be distinct from holiday lets.
Short holiday lets fall under the jurisdiction of the Malta Travel and Tourism Services Act and completely depend on whether or not the person occupying the property for the duration of the short holiday let is a tourist or not.
This is how the Malta Travel and Tourism Services Act defines a tourist:
"A tourist means any person who is travelling to and staying in places outside his usual environment for not more than one (1) consecutive year for leisure, business or other personal purposes other than by taking up employment or to establish his business in the place visited."
Long private residential leases cannot have a duration of less than 1 year. This means that if the Housing Authority receives a contract of 8 months, for example, it will automatically be considered to be a contract for 1 year.
Link to Housing Authority approved long let residential contract.Short let residential contracts are only possible in the following circumstances, for which proof has to be provided:
- Non resident workers who are employed either for a period less than 6 months or only to complete a specific task within a maximum period of 6 months.
- Non resident students who are enrolled in courses for less than 6 months.
- Residents who need to rent an alternative primary residence for a period of less than 6 months.
- Non residents who need to rent a property for a period of less than 6 months, provided that they would not be seeking a long term residence in Malta.
If no evidence is provided, then the contract will be deemed to be a long let residential contract.
- The maximum length of a short let contract is 6 months.
- Short let contracts cannot be extended and therefore neither party needs to give any notice.
- The di fermo period for short let contracts is 1 month.
- After the di fermo period of 1 month, the tenant may withdraw from the contract without penalty as long as they give 1 week's notice by registered mail.
The 2020 Residential Leases Act defines the letting of shared residential space as "the letting of any separate space in an apartment or building, with shared amenities, such as kitchen and bathroom facilities."
- The duration of a contract for the lease of a shared residential space is 6 months.
- The tenant may withdraw from the lease at any time by giving 1 week's notice by registered mail.
- Shared residential space contracts cannot be extended and therefore neither party needs to give notice.
The landlord's rights and responsibilities
If the landlord does not want to renew the contract then, whatever the length of the contract, they must give a minimum of 3 months' notice of this to the tenant by registered mail before the end of the contract.
The notice is effective from the date of sending the registered letter. Keep the proof of posting slip safe, just in case there is a dispute about the notice. If they do not give 3 months’ notice, then the contract is automatically renewed for another year on the same terms as the original contract.
The tenant's rights and responsibilities
Tenants can withdraw with no penalty from a long private residential lease:
- after a period of 6 months when the rental contract is for a period of less than 2 years
- after a period of 9 months when the rental contract is for a period of 2 years or more but less than 3 years
- after a period of 12 months in the case where the rental contract is for a period of 3 years or more
If the tenant withdraws from a long private residential contract before the lapse of the di fermo periods specified above, then the landlord may retain an amount not exceeding 1 month's rent from the deposit left by the tenant.
The landlord may choose to take legal action against the tenant for any other outstanding amount. However, if the landlord replaces the tenant in the remaining di fermo period of the original contract, they will lose the court case - landlords cannot be in receipt of two rents at the same time.
While the landlord must give at least 3 months' notice of their intention to renew the lease or not, the tenant must give the following notice by registered mail:
- 1 month's notice when the contract is for a period of less than 2 years
- 2 months' notice when the contract is for a period of between 2 to 3 years
- 3 months' notice when the contract is for a period of 3 years or more
So, for example, if the tenant wants to withdraw from the contract 6 months into the contract, then the tenant will have to give 1 month's notice by registered mail at five months into the contract.
It is important that both landlords and tenants give the required notice by registered mail. No other method of giving notice is legally binding. Both landlord and tenant need to keep the proof of posting slip safe, in case of any dispute about the notice.
These are the important features of a short let contract when it comes to withdrawal:
- The maximum length of a short let contract is 6 months.
- Short let contracts cannot be extended and therefore neither party needs to give any notice at the end of the contract.
- The di fermo period for short let contracts is 1 month.
- After the di fermo period of 1 month, the tenant may withdraw from the contract without penalty as long as they give 1 week's notice by registered mail. The notice is effective from the date of sending the registered letter. Keep the proof of posting slip safe, just in case there is a dispute about the notice.
- The duration of a contract for the lease of a shared residential space is 6 months.
- The tenant may withdraw from the lease without penalty at any time by giving 1 week's notice by registered mail. The notice is effective from the date of sending the registered letter. Keep the proof of posting slip safe, just in case there is a dispute about the notice.
- Shared residential space contracts cannot be extended and therefore neither party needs to give notice at the end of the contract.
Is your contract registered? The landlord has to register the contract within 10 days of signing.
If it is registered, you should have received an email with the reference number, address, landlord and tenant/s names and duration of contract. The reference number should contain 2 letters and 6 numbers.
If not,
- See whether the contract contains the 7 essential requirements of a contract.
- If yes, the tenant can register it and deduct the registration fee from the rent. You can do so from this link.
- If not, the tenant can give a chance to the landlord to make sure that the 7 essential requirements are included in the contract.
- If not, and the landlord is not cooperative, the tenant can report the tenancy using this link.
If you require any assistance or advice, contact us here.
The landlord has to provide a receipt unless your payment method directly indicates that payment was for rent. For example, it is described as such on a bank statement.
Are you leaving the rental property soon?
Are you concerned that your landlord will unjustifiably keep your deposit?
Has your landlord unjustifiably kept your deposit?
Below is some essential information that you may find useful:
In order to be able to file a dispute to recover your deposit, your contract must have been registered. Check the contract registration section for more information.
If you are still residing in the property, we suggest that you:
- Make sure that you have sent the letter of termination by registered mail.
- Look at the inventory that you signed off as accurate at the beginning of the tenancy. Does the state of the property match that declared in the inventory at the beginning of the tenancy?
- On the day you are leaving or the day before, take photos/video footage of all the items listed in the inventory.
- When the contract finishes, get the landlord to sign a healthy condition paper confirming that the residence is in the state that they require.
- If the landlord does not return the deposit, first ask them to return it by a certain date. If the deposit is still not returned by this date, submit an online dispute, using this link. Make sure that you upload all your evidence in the form of photos/video evidence/landlord text/email correspondence. If you need any assistance contact us here.
If you have already left:
- Do you agree with the amount being kept by the landlord? Or do you think that they are asking for too much? If you think the landlord is being reasonable, consider whether it is worth proceeding with a dispute. Remember that you will have to pay for the Dispute Panel's fees if you lose.
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The following is a checklist of items that might assist you before
submitting your dispute:
- Are there any outstanding payments on Arms bills?
- If you're the one that terminated the agreement, did you inform the landlord by registered mail? If you left within the di fermo period - for example, the first six months for a contract of less than 2 years - you automatically forfeit the deposit.
- Put together all your evidence. Hopefully you have taken photos/video of the state of the property. If not you can still proceed with a dispute. However, your chances of winning are slim because the Dispute Panel has to rule on the evidence in front of them.
There are two residential tariffs - the residential tariff and the domestic tariff. The residential tariff is for EVERY person - tenant or homeowner - living in their primary residence. The word 'domestic' in domestic tariff is misleading. Please be aware that this is the more expensive default tariff and that it is designed for occasionally used or empty secondary residences. The only way you can change the domestic tariff to the residential tariff is via Arms Form H. To find out whether you are on the correct residential tariff with all occupants registered on the Arms bill please look at the top right hand corner of the official Arms bill.
Below is a summary of the features of the Residential and Domestic tariffs:
| Domestic tariff | Residential tariff | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| For occasionally used or empty second properties | For your primary residence | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Default utility tariff | To access this tariff everyone (both homeowners and tenants) must complete Arms Form H | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Very expensive | Includes allowances per person per year of cheaper units of electricity and water | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No eco reduction | Eco reduction if electricity consumption < 17500 units of electricity per person per year | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Sliding scale of electricity unit cost is more
expensive than on residential tariff:
|
Sliding scale of electricity unit cost is cheaper
than on domestic tariff:
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First 33 cubic metres of water are billed at €2.19 per cubic metre. Any consumption of water above 33 cubic metres is billed at €5.14 per cubic metre. No consideration whatsoever is given to the number of occupants of the property. |
Water is billed at €1.40 per cubic metre if consumption is less than 33 cubic metres of water per person per year. Any consumption of water > 33 cubic metres of water per person per year is billed at €5.14 per cubic metre. |
7.21. Form H
The importance of completing Arms Form H, Change in number of persons declaration
Arms Form H, Change in number of persons declaration, is very important because it is the only way for a household to be billed for their utilities on the correct residential tariff for people living in their primary residence. It is necessary for Arms Ltd to know the number of people resident in the property because this will determine how many allowances of cheaper units of water and electricity apply.
For example, if 4 persons are registered on the Arms bill via Section B of Arms Form H, then this household is allowed:
- 33 cubic metres of water per person per year = 33 x 4 = 132 cubic metres of water at €1.40 per cubic metre per year.
- and an eco reduction if the electricity consumption is less than 1750 units of electricity per person per year, in this case, = 1750 x 4 = 7000 units of electricity per year.
If, on the other hand, the Arms bill is on the default domestic tariff, with zero persons registered on the Arms bill,
- water is billed at €2.19 per cubic metre for the first 33 cubic metres of water and thereafter an eye watering €5.14 per cubic metre of water.
- electricity on a more expensive sliding scale of cost per unit plus there is no eco reduction available.
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As the Arms account holder the landlord will complete Section A
of Arms Form H. They have to enter:
- The account number
- Their name and surname
- ID or Passport number
- Mobile or telephone number
- Email address
- Address of residence
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Section B is important as explained above because it alerts
Arms as to how many allowances of cheaper units of electricity
and water apply. The names of all occupants of the property
are listed in Section B of Arms Form H. In this section,
each tenant needs to include:
- Their name and surname
- ID or Passport number
- Signature
- Section D includes the meter readings of the water and electricity. Make sure that the correct readings are inserted.
- Section E lists the required documentation. This includes a copy of the ID card or passport, of every person that signed the document including the landlord.
- The landlord also needs to sign on pages 4 and 5, where they declare that they provided the correct information.
7.22. Form F2
If a tenant wants to be a joint account holder of the Arms bill with the landlord, a deposit of €466 and a non refundable fee of €50 are payable. Arms Form F2, Temporary Recognition of Tenant in Rented Premises, will need to be completed. As joint account holder, the tenant will then be able to complete Arms Form H to ensure that they are on the correct Arms tariff for people living in their primary residence. The union does not see any advantage for tenants being an account holder as there are no fee or deposit payable if the landlord completes Arms Form H on behalf of their tenants.
Moreover, the Residential Leases Act is very clear that the landlord will be liable for any overcharge incurred by the tenant if Form H is not completed.
If the landlord is a professional landlord, then the rental property will have official Arms meters on which official Arms bills are issued. Below is a photograph of what an official Arms bill looks like. Please note that the Arms bill is 2 pages long. Both pages are important and give you essential information of your consumption, its cost and other important details such as the address and official meter numbers which you could cross reference with your meters.
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Payment should only be made on production of an official Arms bill.
Article 17 (4) of the Residential Leases Act stipulates that "the tenant shall not be bound to pay the utility services until he is provided with a copy of the bill".
Please note the official Arms bill in above photos.
- The landlord cannot insist on a fixed monthly payment on account towards the Arms bill. (Please see Article 7f of the Residential Leases Act.) As mentioned above, the tenant is only required to pay once they have a copy of the official Arms bill.
- Arms bills on the residential tariff are now issued every 2 months or so.
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Do not accept an Arms online calculation. The Arms online calculator itself has a lengthy disclaimer which states the following:
"The Calculator is a self help tool intended for illustrative purposes only. ARMS Ltd neither guarantees the accuracy of the calculation nor gives warranty or representation of any kind in any circumstance. In case of any discrepancy between an actual bill and that calculated by this tool, the amount indicated on your bill prevails. ARMS Ltd shall not entertain any claims relating to errors, omissions or other inaccuracies resulting from the use of the Calculator, or from the reliance on information procured therefrom, and in no event shall ARMS Ltd be liable, under any legal theory, for any direct, indirect, special incidental consequential or any other claims arising out of the use of the Calculator. By using the Calculator, users acknowledge and accept this disclaimer." -
Below are some of the reasons as to why you should only pay when provided with a copy of the Arms bill:
- The online calculator does not show the address of the property so the landlord could be inputting the meter readings of a different property. So therefore make sure that you have access to the correct meters.
- The meter may not be an official Arms meter. It may be a submeter or a coin meter. Therefore the service charges which are automatically added by the Arms online calculator are not the liability of the tenant. Effectively the tenant is paying for someone else's service charges, possibly the landlord's.
- The tariff will be the highly expensive domestic tariff (for empty second properties, the summer residence tariff) if the number of residents listed on the bill is declared to be zero.
- The meter may be connected to another property so that the tenant will be paying for someone else's consumption.
- The online calculator may list a far more expensive 3 phase supply when the supply is a single phase supply. The landlord then pockets the difference.
- If the tenant pays every month on the basis of an Arms online calculation, the cost will be more expensive because the Arms billing algorithm includes the duration of the billing period as one of its parameters. The shorter the billing period the more likely larger households will miss out on their entire quota of cheaper units of electricity and water.
- The liability for the Arms bills while the tenant is occupying the rental property is the tenant's. Therefore if the tenant pays fixed monthly amounts without seeing any official Arms bill, they may be in for a nasty surprise at the end of the contractual period if the landlord hasn't paid the Arms bills or if there is some irregularity with the Arms bill as outlined above. This may take some time to resolve or be impossible to resolve, and is therefore not an ideal way to end a tenancy.
Avoid rental properties with submeters or coin meters. Make this one of your criteria when you look for a rental property. Below is a photo of what an official Arms meter should look like.
If you do reside in a rental property with a submeter or a coin meter, understand that official Arms bills are not issued on submeters or coin meters.
Most landlords provide a copy of the ARMS online calculation instead. However, this often leads to the overcharging of tenants in many different ways, as described in the preceding section, The importance of the official Arms bill.
For example, Article 7(f) of the Residential Leases Act shows that it is forbidden for the landlord to charge the tenant for anything other than the "consumption of water, electricity or other utility service". The service charges on an online calculation constitute an 'other utility service' and is not the tenant's liability. These service charges arise from the landlord's official meter and will be listed on the landlord's official Arms bill.
We suggest that, in this situation, tenants:
- Make sure they obtain receipts for all their payments towards their Arms bills.
- Take photos of the meter readings to check that they tally with those of the Arms online calculation of the landlord. Keep a file containing these photos and the online calculations provided by the landlord.
- Do not pay the service charges listed on the Arms online calculation.
- Make sure that the Account type on the Arms online calculation is the Residential Tariff and that the correct number of people are registered. Check that all the other details, such as billing duration and meter readings, are correct.
- Explain to your landlord that, in the absence of an official Arms bill, it is your right to pay for your consumption only, and only on the basis of a billing duration of 2 months. In this way the calculation will mirror that of the official Arms bill and you will not be paying for your landlord’s service charges or losing any of your pro rata allowance of cheaper electricity and water units. Request this method of payment in writing so that if the landlord refuses you can show the Dispute Panel that you tried to be reasonable.
- If the landlord remains unreasonable please contact us so that we can either communicate with your landlord or help you submit an online dispute.
- Ordinary repairs are the responsibility of the tenant.
- Extraordinary repairs are the responsibility of the landlord.
- If you are aware of any extraordinary repairs that are needed you should inform the landlord immediately. It should be done in writing so that you have evidence that you have done this.
- If there are ordinary repairs that need to be done but were not, and they became an extraordinary repair, the liability is still on the tenant.
- If damage came from wear and tear, it is still the responsibility of the landlord.
- If you have informed the landlord and the repairs have still not been done, contact us immediately.
The clauses below are forbidden clauses and are therefore without effect. You can completely ignore them:
- clauses providing for the automatic termination other than non-fulfilment of the tenant’s obligations. Even if the tenant does not fulfil their obligations, it is not the landlord who decides that the contract is terminated. The Rent Regulation Board decides this. The landlord will need to abide by Article 1570 of the Civil Code if they intend to evict the tenant.
- clauses which authorise the landlord to reduce, without equivalent consideration, any benefits stipulated in the contract,
- clauses that exempt the landlord from any of the responsibilities to which he is bound by law, such as repairs that are not caused by negligence of the tenant,
- clauses which impose the payment of additional considerations other than the rent, the deposit, the insurance on contents and contributions in accordance with Condominium Act,
- clauses which impose on the tenant any additional consideration for the use of the movables, beyond the payment of rent for use of dwelling,
- clauses which stipulate the payment of a fixed amount, separate from rent, for the consumption of water/electricity/other utility service, if such amount does not reflect the actual consumption of such utility services by the tenant, calculated at the rate reflecting the primary residential use of the tenement and the total number of occupants residing therein,
- clauses which limit the use which one is expected to make of a residence.
- The tenant is not allowed to sublet the property unless this was expressly allowed in the contract.
- The tenant is allowed to share the rental property with other people, unless this is expressly forbidden in the contract.
Rent increases up to a maximum of 5% per year are allowed as long as this is stipulated in the rental contract. Once the contract comes to an end, the landlord can increase the rent by however much they want.
Please note that, before the end of the contract, the landlord must give 3 months' notice by registered mail of their intention not to renew the contract. If they do not do this, and/or do not do this by registered mail, then the contract is automatically renewed on the same terms as the original contract (ie. at the same rent) for another year.