Federation of Estate Agents meets Hon.Tonio Fenech

This morning the Maltese Federation of Estate Agents (FEA Malta) had a meeting with Hon. Tonio Fenech, Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Finance. The meeting had been scheduled for last week, but was postponed to today at 10.30 am. by the Parliamentary Secretary himself.

The discussions centred on the following:

Property for Rent

Following a push by various entities to regularize the sector, the Federation has suggested a final withholding tax of 10% and a reduced license fee from the MTA (Malta Tourism Authority) on long lets, this to give owners incentive to fully regularize their position. The current scheme calls upon the landlord to pay 1 month's rent (non-refundable if contract is broken) to MTA, and 35% tax on profits. The only current exemption is 20% of the yearly rental income to cover maintenance costs. The rental income from a property is still relatively low when compared to it's sale value.

Final Withholding Tax

Following representations on the matter by the federation, no final withholding tax will be charged on our commission as long as this is mentioned in the convenium. Although the law has some weeks yet to pass through parliament, in the interest of the vendors that were going to opt for the 12% final withholding tax, the amount of commission and VAT due to the estate agent is to be mentioned in the convenium, for deduction.

Rental of property owned by EU citizens

No AIP is necessary if a property is bought by an EU citizen in order to rent it out - See my last posting below covering the discussions by Dr. Simon Busuttil MEP and Dr. Peter Caruana Galizia in the Times of Malta.

Newspaper articles today

Today's 'Talking Point' article on the backpage of The Times of Malta, continued putting pressure on MEPA (Malta Enviroment and Planning Authority) with regards to the Xemxija mud slide due to illegal development.
The article is available here under the title 'Safety and MEPA don't mix' by Mr. Joseph Grech, highlighting the ridiculous situation wherein MEPA is stating that is not responsible for the safety of property developments it sanctions.