What are the requirements for a short let in Malta?

Explanatory rather than news. A short let licence in Malta rests on Annex 4, Category E of the Tourism Accommodation Regulations: seven requirements, and the seventh carries nine conditions of its own. Here is what the instrument asks for, in its own words, and what the Malta Tourism Authority asks you to upload alongside it.

If you let a place to tourists in Malta, the requirements sit in one place: Annex 4, Category E of the Tourism Accommodation Regulations, S.L. 409.24, made by Legal Notice 92 of 2026. There are seven of them, the seventh carries nine conditions of its own, and the regulations came into force on 15 June 2026. This is explanatory rather than news.

What are the requirements for a short let in Malta?

A short let in Malta needs a licence from the Malta Tourism Authority, and since 15 June 2026 that licence is conditional on seven things: complete and accurate information about the licensee and the operator, a valid development permission, certification that the premises conform to that permission, proof of insurance that also covers the common parts where applicable, compliance with the classification criteria in the Sixth Schedule to Annex 5, the identification of a named person available twenty four hours a day to receive complaints, and the further conditions in sub paragraph (g). Operating without the licence is prohibited outright.

The seven, as the instrument states them

(a) Who you are

Submission of complete and accurate information regarding the licensee and operator. The instrument treats licensee and operator as two roles that may be held by two different people, and the Authority asks for identification for both.

(b) Development permission

Possession of a valid development permission.

(c) Conformity with it

Certification that the premises are in conformity with the approved development planning permission. Holding the permission is not the same as certifying that what stands there matches it.

(d) Insurance

Submission of valid proof of insurance covering also the common parts, where applicable. The instrument sets no figure. The Authority's own application page does: third party liability insurance of at least €250,000.

(e) The standards

Compliance with the classification criteria as established in the Sixth Schedule to Annex 5. That schedule is the list an inspector works down, and it is where the door sign, the bedroom sizes and the air conditioning sit.

(f) A person on call

The identification of a designated natural person who shall be available on a twenty four hour basis to receive complaints and to address any problems that can arise in connection with the licensed activity, with the name, surname and contact number kept current.

(g) Nine further conditions

Sub paragraph (g) runs to nine roman numerals. They are the ones that change how a property may be run, rather than how it is documented.

The seventh requirement carries nine conditions

Four of the nine set hard limits on the letting itself.

Ninety consecutive days is a ceiling on the individual booking rather than on the year. The ten person limit falls away where the unit has its own access from a road. Two per bedroom is measured against the layout the Planning Authority approved, not against the beds that are in the room. And the waste collection management plan is required on renewals as well as on first applications, which is where an existing licence holder meets it for the first time.

The other five are these.

• (i) Licences are issued only to the proprietor in title of the property, who must declare whether the property will be operated directly, by sub contract, or otherwise by third parties.
• (ii) On issue of the licence, the licensee must notify the residential block administrator in writing where the property forms part of a condominium, and send a copy to the Authority.
• (iii) Properties which, in the reasonable opinion of the Authority, have not been finished to a high standard are not eligible for consideration.
• (viii) The Authority may establish licensing criteria for specific localities, published in the Gazette.
• (ix) Any additional conditions arising from bye laws made by the local council apply.

The condominium notice comes after the licence, not before

One of the nine is a step that happens once the licence has been issued, which is why it is easy to miss: nothing in the application form prompts it.

Read plainly, the trigger is the issue of the licence and not the application. Our reading is that an operator whose licence was issued months ago and who never wrote to the administrator has an obligation still outstanding rather than one that has passed. The notice is a letter and a copy, and it can be done in an afternoon.

What the Authority asks you to upload

The Authority's application page for short let rented accommodation is more specific than the instrument about paperwork. It states that licences are issued only to the proprietor in title, meaning owners, authorised agents, lessees or other lawful holders of rights over the property, and it asks for the following.

• A scanned copy of the identity card of the applicant, and of the operator where that is a different person.
• For a company or partnership, the full memorandum and articles of association or the deed of partnership, and the board or partnership resolution appointing the official representative.
• A copy of the approved Planning Authority development permit, including the site plan and drawings showing the establishment marked in red. For a property predating 1967, an architect's declaration with layout plans instead.
• Third party liability insurance of at least €250,000.
• A waste management plan.
• Proof that a complaint handler is available twenty four hours a day.

The same page gives indicative timings: five days to vet the application and ten days to approve it, with inspection and assessment in between, and it says the total depends on how quickly the applicant responds. It also states that operating a short let without prior authorisation from the Authority is expressly prohibited.

Inside requirement (e), the sign is the part that is live now

Requirement (e) points at the Sixth Schedule, and most of that schedule started on 15 June 2026 with the body of the regulations. Standard 1.1.2, the sign fixed to the outside of the unit, is one of the items that started then. It asks for the address, a statement that the premises is licensed short let rented accommodation, the licence number, and the name, surname and contact number of the twenty four hour contact. Three air conditioning standards and the room size standard carry their own commencement rules instead, which we set out separately. See the short let standards guide for the list itself.

What the regulations do not price

Where this leaves an operator

This section is our own reading. The documentation half of the list is the straightforward half, and an agent or a notary can assemble most of it. The conditions in sub paragraph (g) are the ones that decide whether a property can be run the way its owner planned: two people per bedroom against the approved layout, ten per unit without independent access from a road, no bedrooms below ground, and no single booking past ninety days. Those are worth measuring before the application rather than after the inspection. If the licence is already issued and the property sits in a block, the written notice to the block administrator is the thing to do this week. For the sign, we make a free generator that prints the address, the licence number and the named twenty four hour contact onto an A4 or A5 PDF.