Malta Budget 2018 – Real Estate Highlights

As the year closes in, the much-awaited ‘Budget 2018‘ has recently been announced, in which, we discover a number of interesting points relating to property letting and sale regulations in Malta, put forward by Finance Minister Prof. Edward Scicluna. Listed below are the main points of the Budget 2018 relating to the real estate industry in Malta, which our professional and experienced team at Perry Estate Agents are always available to assist with and clarify should you have any queries:

• A White Paper on the property rental market is to be issued in the coming weeks, proposing that all property rental agreements must be registered, with respective contracts specifying the lease term and the amount due in rent through the whole term.
• Landlords who do not register their rental agreements will not be protected in terms of the rent law, such as its provisions on evictions that the White Paper will propose.
• The law will be reviewed making it easier for landlords to evict tenants omitting to pay rent due.
• Landlords currently have to go through a court process lasting up to two years to get their properties back. The government wants to reduce that to roughly six months.
• Homeowners who sell their home and don’t own another property will benefit from a €3,000 relief on stamp duty
• Buyers purchasing in a UCA (Urban Conservation Area) will pay 2.5% stamp duty. These are areas such as Valletta, Senglea, Vittoriosa, Cospicua. Please ask one of our staff members for further details.
• The government will retain the First Time Buyers’ scheme for a further year, through which young couples buying their first property receive up to €5,000 in assistance. To date, more than 11,300 properties were sold under the first-time buyers’ scheme, with no duty paid on the first €150,000.
• There is a new scheme being introduced for second-time buyers, (depending on the circumstances); meaning the stamp duty paid will be reduced by up to €3,000. If the buyer is disabled, the reduction will go up to a maximum of €5,000.
• Homeowners who sell their home and don’t own another property will benefit from a €3,000 relief on stamp duty

For more information about buying or selling a property in Malta please contact one of our real estate experts here or email us: perry@perry.com.mt

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