Malta - British Expat Forum

Red wrote: Our future landlord was worried that my parents wanted the utilities in their names, until they explained through the estate agent, and it was he who told us that he (the estate agent) got his own landlord to transfer the bill to his name but he had to pay the fee of €600 (he said).

Thanks for sharing your parent's experience Red. It will help us a lot when we face this issue in a month.

I just have a few questions:

1) At the time of signing the lease I take it your parents were not yet registered as residents? If not, is it still possible to have the utilities transferred to your name?

2) Did your parents have problems finding a landlord who would accept this condition?

Thanks a lot for the help.

Hi Cuauhtli,

You are correct initially my parents were not registered as ordinary residents when they began renting their first apartment.

I have just re read what I originally wrote, which has misled you. Let me correct this by saying, we too, were under the impression originally that for us to get residents rates the bill had to be in our name (but this is not the case), being a well seasoned business man with many properties, our first landlord understood exactly what we really wanted ie residential rates for all utilities, which he agreed; and it was he who took us to the ARMS office in Victoria to request form ACC 501/11 1x2 12/10 (this number may have changed to a newer version, but they will know what is meant).

We made the same request to our second landlords, and when we explained what we wanted through the estate agent, they agreed. We then had the following clause inserted in the contract:-


All utility bills during the term of the lease shall be paid by the Lessees but shall be issued to the Lessors account, naming the Lessees as residents (Form A CC 501/11 1x 2 12/10), thereby allowing the lessees to claim residents rates for said utilities.

There is no advantage to having utility bills in the tenants name. Why would you? You may want to leave the property after 6 months or whatever, and you would then have to go to all the trouble of having it reversed, and waiting a long time for the refund.

In respect of approaching the landlord with this request, we did wait until the landlord thought he had a tenant for his property.

Brilliant Red. That's just what I needed to know.

I'll make it one of the first tasks when we arrive to pick up the form you mentioned from ARMS and as soon as we've more or less agreed a contract with a landlord, start waving it around.

Thanks for the extremely useful infos. I now have am a lot clearer on how to approach this issue.

Just one last question, if I may. Having the Lessees named as residents, does not mean that they have to be actually registered as ordinary residents at the time of signing contracts. I presume then that we would be charged domestic until we registered and provided proof of this to ARMS?

Hi Cuauhtli

'Naming the lessees as residents' means 'Residents of the said property' my parents passport numbers were used on the form, for the first property as they had only just moved to Malta. By the time they moved into their present home, they had become registered as ordinary residents, therefore, their Maltese ID numbers were used instead.

I hope this helps.

Red,

In addition, were your parents asked to provide evidence that they are registered with the local inland revenue?

If not, then this is typical Maltese "moving the goalposts".

Yes Chris, they did, but that wasn't a problem, because the accountant recommended on this site, whom they had already engaged, supplied them with the relevant document as evidence; but why should that be a problem Chris?

Red wrote:why should that be a problem Chris?

For us it would probably be the problem of not really having the time to talk an accountant / obtaining proof of tax registration before organising and signing a contract. We'll fly over for a week or two to organise accommodation and then return for the long drive over. I wouldn't feel too good about beginning any registration as residents or for tax before driving over since we may then have problems entering the country with our car as we are no longer entering as tourists. What do you think?

Red wrote:... but why should that be a problem Chris?

It's not for me but it might be for those unaware of the requirement.

Ah! well swings and roundabouts perhaps?

Cuauhtli wrote:. I wouldn't feel too good about beginning any registration as residents or for tax before driving over since we may then have problems entering the country with our car as we are no longer entering as tourists. What do you think?

I think its a fair concern - by applying for an ID card etc you are telling the authorities you consider yourself resident, so unless you intend on applying to register your car within 15 days of it arriving you are asking for trouble. You also risk a double whammy, as you would be applying for ID card before you are actually resident.

ps You are not beginning the resident registration process, you are informing them you are resident, and asking them to give you the document(s) you are entitled to

Cuauhtli wrote: For us it would probably be the problem of not really having the time to talk an accountant / obtaining proof of tax registration before organising and signing a contract. We'll fly over for a week or two to organise accommodation and then return for the long drive over.

If you contact the accountant recommended by me and others, or another accountant, before your week or two, you should be able to book a meeting to discuss matters, or maybe discuss over the phone.

We did just that, flew over to hunt for a place to live in May (never signed anything), made an appointment by email from England with the accountant, kept our appointment during our week stay. Drove over in August, arrived two days before we were supposed to move into the apartment, so stayed 2 days in apartment arranged by the local (recommended) estate agent, signed and moved into the apartment (signed and moved in on the same day).

We hadn't started registering anything else at all. No problems, I can't see why everyone is making it out to be difficult?

When we originally went to the ARMS office with our landlord (2 days after moving in) my father and the landlord signed the application, we were told they required the proof of tax payable in Malta. We informed the said accountant, and he sent it to us (as soon as he'd received it), my father took a COPY in to the ARMS office, and that was it, not really much effort but a huge saving.

ps

Same when we imported the car, if you fulfill the requirements, you can do it yourself, no problems!

Red wrote: We hadn't started registering anything else at all. No problems, I can't see why everyone is making it out to be difficult? .

I agree, it isn't difficult, as long as you know the correct order, and follow it, which is what you did