Homeowners hit by abusive notaries still left without solution, consumer lobby says

The Association for Consumer Rights has called for rapid action against abusive notaries who have collected property tax or duties on behalf of buyers, without ever registering their property titles at law.

The ACR said it wants governmnet to take action to see redress and justice done for unfortunate consumers who had done everything they were legally obliged to do but still do not have the property they honestly purchased registered in their name.

The Notarial Council called on the government last December to urgently overhaul legislation that obliges notaries to serve as middlemen, and instead create a system for the registration of taxes on property contracts to be paid directly to the tax authorities.

“As the council stated, the current system of self-regulation has to be replaced by a more robust framework where, together with the government and possibly the banks, the payment of these taxes can be made in real time. The system is in place in many EU member states but Malta is lagging behind,” said ACR president Pauline Azzopardi.

Azzopardi said MPs are mainly warranted legal professionals who should be more inclined to act decisively to eliminate such fraudulent actions from members of their own profession. “There is also no adequate system of timely redress for instances where citizens’ rights have been prejudiced. Legislation in this regard is currently lacking,” Azzopardi said.

The Ombudsman has also acknowledged the predicament for property purchasers who paid their obligations on a property and are now being expected to repay property taxes once again as their notaries failed to pass on their clients’ money to the tax authorities, calling the government’s behaviour “illogical”.

“Although several years have passed since paying the tax due, these property buyers cannot claim that the property belongs to them. The Public Registry refuses to pass title to them unless they pay yet again both the stamp duty of the purchaser and also of the vendor. The purchasers and vendors did what the law states and that was to pass the money for stamp duty to the public notaries. These public officers decided to keep and use their money for their own purposes,” Azzopardi said.

The Ombudsman suggested several proposals including “having the chief notary to the government step in to register the property transfer deed, without any further expense to the client whose notary defaulted, and the government reserving the right to take action against the notary in question.”

“The ACR Malta is seriously concerned to see that the government is ignoring the Ombudsman’s opinion which was submitted to Parliament one year ago,” Azzopardi said.