MaltaMedia.com

The new rent reform bill was published on Friday, revealing a reform that will profoundly affect the renting housing market that has been stuck for decades.

The bill includes 33 recommendations which include:

The Government should review the issue of housing stock that is vacant due to problems of inheritance; unknown owners; or due to the economic cost of rehabilitation with the objective to fi nd a balanced solution to render such property into productive housing stock.

The existing right of a lease enjoyed by a sitting tenant will be retained and will be extended to the spouse who is not legally or de facto separated, who in the event of the death of the sitting tenant will continue to enjoy the right to the tenancy as a matter of course which would not be deemed to be causa mortis inheritance.

The right of inheritance to occupants who qualify to causa mortis inheritance under the eligibility criteria proposed in this report is a one time right only.

Occupants who live with a sitting tenant or the spouse who do not meet the eligibility criteria proposed in the report as at 1st June 2008 will in the event of causa mortis of the tenant have no right of inheritance to the tenancy but will be afforded the right to continue to live in the residency for a period of not longer than fi ve years from the date of the death of the tenant subject to the conditions that they will be governed by post-1995 rent legislation and will pay market value for the rent; with further extensions of the tenancy to be subject to agreement reached between the occupant and the landlord.

With effect from 1st January 2009 the minimum rent for pre-1995 rented property will, unless otherwise agreed to between the landlord and the tenant, be set at the 1960: 158.80 infl ation base line - €185 (Lm79.40) per annum.

With effect from 1st January 2009 the value of the rent for pre-1995 rented property will increase by the rate of infl ation between 1st January 2009 and 31st December 2012; and will continue to increase as such at the end of every three year cycle until the tenancy reverts back to the landlord.