Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1504229
12 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 23 JULY 2023 MATTHEW FARRUGIA THE Housing Authority is con- sidering changing the rules on shared space contracts to ad- dress existing restrictive con- ditions that may be leading to irregularities. Two "irregularities" in the rental market were noted in the Private Rental Market in Malta study released last month by the authority. The first was the noticeably low amount of registered shared space contracts within Malta's rental market, while the second oddity was the unusually large percentage of long-term leases with monthly rents under €500. This, the report said, has led to speculation that some land- lords have tried registering shared spaces as long-term leases to get past the restrictive conditions tied to shared space contracts. The rent distribution of long- term leases may be intentionally altered by these actions, giving the impression that rents are lower than they actually are. Responding to MaltaToday's questions, a spokesperson for the Housing Authority ex- plained that currently, a con- tract for shared spaces has a fixed term of six months and cannot be extended. The ex- tension of these contracts for shared spaces and the provision for renewal are two potential solutions that are currently be- ing studied, the spokesperson said. Specifying that the currently observed behaviour from land- lords is "not abuse per se as long as the contracts are registered with the Housing Authority," the spokesperson remarked that the current situation offers its own challenges. In one such challenge, if a landlord signs a long-term res- idential lease with five tenants, one of which decides to vacate the property and is replaced by another tenant, as things stand, the landlord must cancel the previous lease agreement that listed the names of the five orig- inal tenants and replace it with a new one that includes the infor- mation about the new tenants. This is a bureaucratic burden in itself. When asked if the suspicious- ly low number of shared spaces had ever been investigated by the authority, the spokesperson said "the authority does not in- tervene between the parties as long as the contract falls within the parameters of the law." Here it was highlighted that by the end of 2022, slightly less than 95% of active contracts were for long-term leases with only 5% classified as shared spaces. Meanwhile, the share of short-term leases stood below 0.5% of active contracts. This low share of shared space contracts was described as "puzzling" by the authority in its analysis of the rental market. "This is puzzling given the an- ecdotal evidence of widespread co-sharing arrangements by foreign workers that rely on this sector for accommodation." Earlier in July, sister newspa- per Illum reported that on so- cial media one can easily find numerous beds and rooms for rent at around €150 to €400 per month, which provide a snap- shot of the poor living condi- tions that some foreign workers are living in. According to the investiga- tion, some of the small rooms are shared by many people. The vast majority of foreign employees in Malta earn less than €20,000 annually, accord- ing to information tabled in parliament in January of this year. Statistics for 2021, show that out of the 37,688 foreign em- ployees in Malta at the time, more than 21,000 were paid less than €15,000 annually. MATTHEW VELLA GOVERNMENT experts want a study on how to make businesses getting a free ride on the municipal waste collection system, start separating their trash or pay. A feasibility study will assess the best waste management approach model for the commercial sector, in a bid to mini- mise excessive waste being disposed of. The proposed approaches include drop- off points with controlled access, which would mean having a designated area for business owners to dispose their waste at this site; a subscription service organised locally or regionally with the municipal waste stream; waste collection by private companies; or any hybrid system. "Assessing the feasibility of various waste management approaches targeting the commercial sector is a requisite to achieve an economically viable, socially equitable and environmentally conscious waste practices," the environment minis- try said in a call for tenders. It is only until recently that mandatory separation of waste became an obligation for both the commercial and domestic sectors. But a high percentage of food waste and recyclable fractions are still be- ing disposed of in the black, residual bag. According to the Environment Ministry, the lack of fiscal incentives for waste pre- vention and separation is leading to this situation, despite the use of gate fees or the beverage container refund scheme and regional waste collection services. A Material Recovery Facility, currently at design stage, will now be able to receive and treat co-mingled material and mate- rial from segregated sources, and recycle waste that would have otherwise gone to landfill. A new organic processing plant, waste-to-energy facility, skip manage- ment facility and a thermal treatment plant are in the pipeline. But the large- scale plants also depend on large volumes of waste input to operate. Malta faces implications for failing to reach the targets stipulated in the Waste Framework Directive, Landfill Directive and Packaging and Packaging Waste Di- rective. EU businesses are estimated to have the potential to economise up to €600 billion through better eco-design, waste preven- tion and reuse processes of waste. Malta currently has door-to-door col- lection of organic waste, recyclable waste, glass bottles, and other residual waste. A beverage bottle recovery scheme using reverse-vending machines is also in place. Presently no obligations are imposed on operators of commercial establishments to separate their waste at source, nor to manage the waste they generate. The only obligation is for restaurants, snack- bars, bars, clubs, hotels and other tour- ism accommodation facilities to engage a third-party contractor to collect their waste. Establishments can still engage licensed waste carriers through direct contracts, but they must guarantee the separate col- lection of waste fractions. In 2020, a long-term waste management plan had anticipated a 'pay as you throw' (PAYT) system for commercial estab- lishments, based on a charge that is paid whenever people buy their waste bags. The system would impose a higher cost on black bags, to ensure that businesses that embark upon separation at source will bear a lower cost of waste manage- ment than those who are more careless. The amount of waste generated by commercial establishments is unknown since most make use of the domestic waste collection systems financed by lo- cal councils. In 2018, 42,406 tonnes of mixed, resid- ual waste were collected from commer- cial establishments who engaged private waste carriers. But this is believed to be a fraction of the waste the business sector generates. Current EU targets require that Malta achieves an overall recycling rate of 55%. 'Puzzled' Housing Authority to tackle irregularities on registration of shared space contracts Study to determine how to make businesses separate waste