HSBC Malta to start offering Buy-to-Let Loans

HSBC Malta for the first time ever is introducing Buy-To-Let Loans on the maltese islands. The official launch for this product is on 2nd. May 2006, and more information for both locals and foreigners is available from their customer service number +356-23802380.

For online enquiries visit their website by clicking here and for more information vis-a'-vis the letting market and the letting value of a property here in Malta, you can contact me by clicking here.

The Lament of the Maltese Townhouse

The Malta Independent on Sunday printed an Opinion piece by Marisa Micallef, (Chairman Housing Authority) under the title "Ode to a dying Abode".

The Lament of the Maltese Townhouse


"I am baffled, confused, hurt.After all, I’m a good-looking townhouse, double-fronted (although that works against you these days because apparently I’m more suitable for redevelopment into flats that way), built and brought up in a well-located street in Sliema.

My stonework is now a bit grimy, my blue shutters faded and sunburnt and windswept to a nondescript grey. And I even once boasted a smart gallarija and pretty carvings too.So why on earth are these grey, badly dressed, pot-bellied guys putting some white, plastic-covered note on my side to say I’m going to be pulled down and replaced with more ugly flats? That’s all I can see around me anyway – ugly flats.

Why am I not worth keeping, I wonder? Why am I not loved anymore?I remember being carefully and lovingly built by hand by craftsmen that make today’s contractors look like cowboys........"

The full article can be read by clicking here.

Exemplary Apartment Blocks in the Sliema Area

New Apartment Blocks in the Sliema area - The Latest Maltese Architecture melding in with the old.

Thanks to Dr.George Debono from FAA (Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar) who emailed me these photos to new apartment blocks that caught his eye in the Sliema area, and which have been built to high standards, and meld in well with the rest of the enviroment. FAA are an enviromental pressure group and their website can be found at www.ambjentahjar.org

Portomaso acquire full ownership of land for Lm800,000

Last Sunday's Maltatoday newspaper broke the news re Spinola Development's negotiation and settlement on the temporary ground rent at Portomaso, which has now been redeemed with full ownership gained by the same company. The full article can be read here.

Excerpts from the same article dated 16th. April 2006 on Maltatoday

"The company is now asking the owners of its 150 or so apartments whether they are interested in redeeming their temporary leases ahead of 2114. No price has yet been set by the company. A spokesperson for the Prime Minister confirmed that with 109 years left until the expiration of the emphyteusis, the amount that would have to be paid for the transfer of the land would have been Lm109,000.

Maurice Tabone, sales and marketing director, said the company wanted to consolidate its asset base: “The law might change so it made sense that we buy it, even since a tender was issued and someone else might bid for it. It was in our interest to redeem the emphyteusis.” ......."

"........“We sent clients a letter informing them we had purchased the freehold, and that ground rent was payable to Spinola Development, and proposed that in the near future whoever was interested could redeem the emphyteusis,” Tabone said.

Owners of the apartments whose prices range from Lm80,000 to over Lm320,000, currently pay a ground rent of Lm1 every year – it would cost Lm180 in 2114 for the transfer of absolute ownership to the dwellers.Several have written back to the company saying they are interested in becoming full owners of their apartments, but are asking to know the price beforehand.
“We haven’t set the formula yet… Naturally, one would have to be reasonable about it,” Tabone said.
Residents forming part of the Portomaso Apartments Residents Committee (PARC) have said they had repeatedly written to the government enquiring whether they could redeem the temporary lease but there was never any acknowledgment from the government.A call for tender was published on 16 August 2005 in the government gazette."

Malta is "impotent" with big developers

Front page article with the above heading on the Times of Malta 11th. April 2006. The report commissioned by the Enviroment minister 2 months ago is finally out, and holds the Malta Enviroment and Planning Authority indirectly responsible.

The Malta Independent chose to break the news in a small article within the paper, and no visibility on the newspaper's website.

The Times of Malta article, which is on the front page and continues for nearly a full page inside, with photos, can be read online here (for the next month before archiving).

The opening paragraphs by reporter Mark Micallef are:

"Developers Polidano Brothers were left to do as they pleased at their Xemxija site prior to January's mudslide, the inquiry report into the incident has concluded, adding that the planning authority is "impotent" when it comes to controlling big developers.

In frank language, the report, commissioned by Environment Minister George Pullicino some two months ago, notes that the Malta Environment and Planning Authority is indirectly responsible for what happened on the site.

The inquiry was ordered after The Times reported that excavations taking place at the site adjacent to the St Paul's Bay bypass had caused a mudslide which left part of a building sticking out dangerously in mid-air. "

Federation of Estate Agents (Malta) - Official Launch

On Monday 10th. April 2006 the FEA (Malta) is holding its official launch at the Portomaso Suite, Hilton. The event commences at 19.00 and the press together with officials from various goverment departments and authorities, and all the member estate agents have been invited.

It is anticipated that speeches will be given by the President of FEA Mr.Douglas Salt, Chief Executive HSBC Mr.Shaun Wallis, and Parliamentary Secretary Finance Department Hon. Tonio Fenech.

The event is being sponsored by HSBC Malta.
The main objectives of the Federation are outlined on its website at www.feamalta.org

Update: 10th. April 2006 12:30
Hon. Tonio Fenech called in today, the day of the event, to inform FEA he won't be attending. It seems no goverment officials will be addressing the launch since the cancellation was last minute.
Meanwhile Mrs. Sally Robson, the new Chief Operating Officer HSBC Malta, will be delivering the speech instead of Mr. Shaun Wallis.

Action group formed to prevent further destruction of urban, rural heritage

Today's Malta Independent on Sunday 9th. April 2006 carried an article about the launch of a new pressure group. the opening lines are below, and the full article can be read by clicking here.


"Aiming to raise public awareness over what it describes as “the ongoing systematic destruction of our urban and rural heritage”, a non-political pressure group, Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar (Together for a Better Environment) was formed yesterday.Providing the public with an opportunity to make its voice heard, the group intends to oppose the continued “uglification” of Malta by rampant, uncontrolled development through challenging the government by all means possible. The group also aims to ensure the government lives up to its commitments under the Aarhus Convention, which Malta signed in 1998 and ratified in 2002."

Personal Comments: In real estate terms, it is of the utmost importance that any investment in the property market is properly protected and regulations are strictly adhered to. As I write, the press, the public and various professional bodies are expressing concern over various decisions taken by the Malta Enviroment & Planning Authority (Mepa). Various loopholes in the legal system have been pointed out, and it is now everyone's duty to pull the same rope and see that these deficiencies are addressed and corrected. The FAA pressure group is in fact not against proper and intelligently designed development, but against the destruction of our cultural heritage in the form of traditionally built village cores, and the continous encroachment on rural areas.

Maltese Newspapers on Line - Archiving

After assessing the changes in online data management by The Times of Malta I have no option but to concentrate more on articles published by The Malta Independent. These are the two main english newspapers on the maltese islands.

As I write, links to The Times of Malta articles will be dead within a month as the online paper is only retrievable within the month, while on the otherhand The Malta Independent archives up to 2 years back.
So, given that there is limited storage space on this blog, it is impractical to reproduce the entire texts of an article. A link with some personal comments remains the best way forward.

Should any news item appear on The Times only, then I will reproduce this in full together with the newspaper's publishing date.