Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1538131
3 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 3 AUGUST 2025 NEWS foreigners are treated like disposable ATM machines €1,000 deposit. In an effort to find a new place to live in, George explains that he went to a reputable rental agent, and when he was asked about his current living ar- rangement, he did not hold back in explaining the abuse. To his surprise, the rental agent knew exactly who his landlords were, explaining that she had also heard horror stories from previous tenants. Luckily, the group contact- ed Solidarjetà, a union formed in 2024 that protects tenants, among other groups. After be- coming union members, the tenants were instructed to re- fuse the landlord's request to sign an agreement that would terminate their lease. Their il- legal eviction was prevented. Eight people in a three- bedroomed flat Tabitha* reached out to Mal- taToday after the situation in her home reached boiling point. She called this newspaper af- ter hearing about this article through other members of her community. She shares her room with two other women, while another four men live in two bedrooms. The last resi- dent sleeps on a couch in the living room. This however, was not always the situation. She explains that there were originally six resi- dents before the landlord de- cided to squeeze another two in. Before this, Tabitha and the other residents used to pay €250 each per month, and when she confronted her land- lord about the two new tenants, he told her to start paying €200. The situation escalated when she was one day late to pay her landlord. But after she paid the rent, the landlord showed her a clause in her contract stating that payments received more than two days after the due date will entitle him to an ex- tra €100. This practice is also illegal. After protesting that she was only one day late, her landlord terminated her contract and she received an email from the Housing Authority shortly af- terwards. Luckily, Tabitha joined Sol- idarjetà. The union helped her through negotiations with the landlord, who then agreed to refund her deposit and all that is due to her. She is now searching for a new apartment to live in. At least half of lease agreements contain illegal clauses Solidarjetà President Mat- thew Attard tells MaltaToday that the young union always tries to reach amicable settle- ments with its members' land- lords. Attard notes that from the lease agreements the union has seen, he estimates that at least half of all contracts contain il- legal clauses, adding that this is a conservative estimate. He says certain systemic over- sights mean that tenants, espe- cially if they are TCNs, are at the mercy of their landlords. An example of this is how, as was seen in the case of Tabitha, a landlord can de-register a lease agreement with the Hous- ing Authority (HA) which is al- most immediately accepted, no questions asked. This is more worrying in the case of TCNs, as their presence in Malta is only legitimate if they have, among other things, a job, and a fixed residence. Tenants in Malta among least protected in EU Kurt Xerri, a lawyer and one of the co-authors behind the Private Residential Leases Act, explains that before the 2020 reform, tenants had little to no rights and protections. Land- lords withholding tenants' deposits was the order of the day, he says. Now, however, he believes the law offers ten- ants sufficient safeguards. The problem arises when tenants don't know their rights, he adds. This was exemplified in a case of a couple who wished to move to a new flat as it was cheaper. Around four months before their lease agreement was set to expire, their landlord asked if they wished for a renewal, to which they declined and informed him verbally about their decision. However, they were unaware that they needed to formalise their notice in a letter to their landlord. Their landlord re- fused to refund their €1,000 deposit, while claiming that the pair caused €5,000 in damages. This, Xerri explains, is where organisations such as Solidar- jetà are crucial, since one of the union's duties is to inform tenants of their rights. He notes that the Malta Landlords Asso- ciation is also a crucial player in this sector. Xerri emphasises that due to the fact that the population that lives in rented homes is largely foreign, such education- al campaigns are essential. But the capacity for land- lords to take advantage of for- eign tenants with little knowl- edge of local laws is not lost on Xerri. While defending the 2020 reform as one that gives tenants more rights and pro- tection from abuse, he still be- lieves Malta's rental laws are pro-landlord. "Compared to other EU mem- ber states, ours are among the least protected tenants," Xerri says, explicitly noting that the reason for this is because the majority of tenants in Malta are foreigners. "They come in and call us 'sons of bitches'," he says, among other insults. Now, despite signing a one-year lease agreement, the owners want the tenants to leave, giving them just one week's notice. To add insult to injury, the landlords also refused to refund the €1,000 deposit.