Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/782193
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 5 FEBRUARY 2017 15 sis segment that is in most urgent need of a reform? "I think most of the anti-rent control sentiment stems from this. Historically, there were a lot of private landlords who were unfair- ly hit by the previous regime. They were actually poorer than their tenants, and in some cases still are. The European Court of Human Rights has ruled against Malta more than once on this issue, and Malta has had to pay compensa- tion to these landlords. This influ- ences public opinion. But we're not suggesting going back to that situation, far from it..." The problem, she suggests, is that the pendulum has now swung to the opposite extreme. It is ten- ants who now need protection, not landlords. A happy balance has yet to be found. "Another thing is that the issue does not only concern rent con- trol. We need to talk about stand- ards of accommodation, too. I have lived in some horrific rental accommodation, but there was nothing we could do about it. The first property we rented in Malta was when we first moved here in 2010. We paid €550 a month. The property itself was nice, but it was very run down. The electrics were faulty, the sockets didn't work, the toilets leaked, and so on. When it came to renting a second prop- erty, we were determined to pay the correct tariff. I calculated that we would have overpaid by €85 a month on the wrong property. With our budget, that meant we had to rent an even worse proper- ty than before. This one was truly awful: it had a sign saying 'West Germany' on the circuit breaker [i.e., it hadn't been changed since 1987 latest]. You couldn't switch on an electric kettle, because the circuit breaker would trip. I need- ed an extension lead running right across the kitchen just to use the washing room..." But aren't their regulations that hold landlords responsible for the upkeep of the property? "I think what happened was that – this is my own theory, but I think it's correct – because the emphytheusis regulations until 1995 were so favourable to the tenant, it came to be considered as the tenants' responsibility to look into all maintenance except exter- nal, structural issues. But there's no law as such. The only law that regulates the rental market is the very basic Civil Code: and it's very generic..." This raises the question of what should be done to fill the various lacunae. So far we have mentioned the lack of a registry for landlords, the fact that the rent is often un- declared, the need for measures to control rental inflation, the lack of liability for landlords in case of substandard accommodation... It's quite a long list. "To be honest I'm a little lost, too. I've been reading up on how other countries cope with the same problem, and it's not just Malta. This is happening on a global scale. I think the difference is that in Malta, we're starting at ground level. I really think that the ideal solution would be a combi- nation of three things: increasing salaries; finding a balance between protecting the tenants – and their human right to a roof over their heads – while also coming up with measures to make it worth the landlord's while to put property up for rent. I've mentioned some possible measures already: mini- mum lengths for contracts; a limit of rental increases – in Germany for instance, you cannot increase rent by more than 20%." Another grey area, she adds, is the renting of single properties to multiple tenants. "I think if landlords had to have a licence for letting a property to more than a certain number of people, this would also work to calm down the market. The prob- lem is that many tenants are shar- ing a property, which is distorting the market and pushing prices up sky high. Regulation already exists in other countries such as the UK. "If different households live in the same property, then the land- lord has to have a licence: 'HMO - houses in multiple occupancy'. I think that if there were a maxi- mum number of tenants living in a property - and if this were en- forced - then it would definitely bring down rents." And yet it seems that all along, the Inland Revenue Department, ARMS Ltd, the Energy Minister and the Prime Minister were all alerted to this situation, and have so far taken no action. How does Axisa McRae interpret this reluc- tance to face the problem? "I'm afraid I'm very cynical, so I see it as a case of: 'foreigners can't vote, so we don't care about them; and the Maltese vulnerable ten- ants, who are few in number and invisible... they are a worthwhile sacrifice on the altar of economic success." Interview As rental prices skyrocket, JOHANNA AXISA MacRAE, chair of the Malta Tenants' Association, argues we can no longer ignore the corresponding social realities out of control PHOTOGRAPHY BY JAMES BIANCHI