Who registers long lets in Malta?

The Housing Authority, under the Private Residential Leases Act (Cap. 604). The Act is base Act XXVIII of 2019, in force from 1 January 2020, and the consolidated text now in force is dated 1 September 2024 after Act XX of 2024.

Is registering a lease a certificate that the place is fit to live in?

No, and the Act says so in terms. Registration is not a certificate of habitability and may not be used as a defence to a breach of any other law. It records the lease; it approves nothing about the property.

How is any of this enforced?

Through the contract rather than through an inspector. A lease that is not registered is null and void, and so is one missing any of the seven things article 6(1) requires. A landlord cannot rely on their own failure to register as a defence, and it may not be used against the tenant.

Long lets

Letting to people who live here.

Somebody makes the place their home. The contract has to be in writing, contain seven things, and be registered within thirty days. Miss either and it is worth nothing.

Who governs it

The authority

Housing Authority

The law

Cap. 604, the Private Residential Leases Act, last amended by Act XX of 2024

What it takes

Registration of the contract, done online, within thirty days of the lease starting.

A contract that is not registered is null and void, and so is one missing any essential requirement.

Who each one is for

For landlords

You are letting a place to somebody who will live in it. The contract has to be registered within thirty days and has to contain seven things, and it is void without either.

For tenants

You are renting a home in Malta. The law gives you more than most people know, including the right to register the lease yourself if your landlord has not.

For block administrators

You look after a block. Short lets in it have to tell you in writing, and the Condominium Act says how the building decides things.

The other half

Which of the two you are in is a question about the person staying.

Cap. 604 does not cover a place let to a tourist purely for tourism, and it says in terms that a property registered as holiday furnished premises is still covered when the person renting it does not qualify as a tourist. So holding an MTA licence does not settle it. If a letting of yours sits near that line, a lawyer is the person to ask.

Short lets Every guide

Questions

Questions about which rules these are.

Who registers long lets in Malta?: The Housing Authority, under the Private Residential Leases Act (Cap. 604). The Act is base Act XXVIII of 2019, in force from 1 January 2020, and the consolidated text now in force is dated 1 September 2024 after Act XX of 2024.
Is registering a lease a certificate that the place is fit to live in?: No, and the Act says so in terms. Registration is not a certificate of habitability and may not be used as a defence to a breach of any other law. It records the lease; it approves nothing about the property.
How is any of this enforced?: Through the contract rather than through an inspector. A lease that is not registered is null and void, and so is one missing any of the seven things article 6(1) requires. A landlord cannot rely on their own failure to register as a defence, and it may not be used against the tenant.