[WATCH] €25,000 grant for property owners in new vacant dwelling rental scheme

Parliamentary secretary Roderick Galdes on the new vacant property scheme and the White Paper on rent rates

Owners of vacant properties will be able to rent their dwelling to the Housing Authority for ten years and apply for a grant of up to €25,000 to carry out restorations to their home, according to a new rental scheme launched today.

Social accommodation parliamentary secretary Roderick Galdes said the scheme was meant to increase the quantity of social housing by making use of empty properties which would otherwise not be contributing anything to the economy.

The grant is only to be used to carry out specific restoration work to the property, including structural repairs, extensions, repairs related to water, electricity and sewage systems and roof waterproofing.

“The property in question has to be at least 30 years old and will have to have been empty for at least a year in order to be eligible for the scheme,” Galdes explained, “Moreover, if the cost of repairs to a particular property significantly exceed €25,000, the scheme would not be well-suited for them.”

Galdes said that the Authority would be paying rent to the owner six months in advance, and the rental rate - which would be set through mutual agreement between the owner and the Authority - would increase by 2% a year.

“No previous government has tackled the problem of empty dwellings before,” he said, adding that the scheme would be open for a period of 12 months, starting from today.

Affordable rent White Paper coming soon

Asked about the progress in formulating a White Paper on affordable rent and the recent price hikes, which had been announced in October last year , Galdes said that the last discussions on this were currently ongoing, and it would be published once these were finalised.

"The government carried out extensive research on rent rates and will be in a position to inform the public on rental the situation in Malta," he said, "We aim to regularise the sector."