Noise at night is an offence in Malta.
The Criminal Code makes it a contravention to disturb the rest of the people around you at night. It does not say when night begins, and the one place Maltese law answers that is a regulation written for measuring noise rather than for banning it. This page sets out what each instrument says, what a breach costs, and what noise can do to a short-let licence.
The rule that binds everybody.
It is in the Criminal Code rather than in any licence. Article 338 opens by saying that every person is guilty of a contravention against public order who does any of the things it then lists. One of them is this.
(m) at night time, disturbs the repose of the inhabitants by rowdiness or bawling, or in any other manner;
- It binds every person
- Not an operator, not a licensee, not a business. Anybody, and nothing in it stops at a front door. A guest in a short let and a tenant on a long lease are in exactly the same position.
- It applies from the first minute
- The offence exists as soon as the repose is disturbed. This is where it differs from the other provision below, which only bites once somebody has asked you to stop.
- "Or in any other manner" carries it past music
- Rowdiness and bawling are named, and the clause stays open after that. It is not a rule about speakers.
And a second one, for anything with a speaker in it.
The Code of Police Laws has its own provision, and the wording is from 1947. It still works, because of two words in the middle of it.
No person shall - (a) in any street, shop or other public place; or (b) upon any other premises, by operating or causing or suffering to be operated any wireless loud speaker, gramophone, amplifier or similar instrument, make or cause or suffer to be made any noise which shall be so loud as to cause a nuisance to occupants or inmates of any premises in the neighbourhood.
Paragraph (b) is the part that matters. This is not a street-noise rule: a speaker inside a flat at 2am sits squarely in it, and the test is whether the noise is a nuisance to the neighbours rather than what time it is. The phrase "or suffering to be operated" appears to reach whoever allowed it as well as whoever pressed play. That last reading is ours rather than a decided point, and we say so because nobody has tested it in front of us.
When does night start?
Article 338(m) does not say. Neither does the Code of Police Laws, and neither does the Interpretation Act. One instrument in Maltese law puts an hour on the word, and it is the regulations that bring the European environmental noise directive into effect.
the start of the day (and consequently the start of the evening and the start of the night) shall be appropriately chosen by the competent authority (this choice shall be the same for noise from all sources); the default values are 07.00 to 19.00, 19.00 to 23.00 and 23.00 to 07.00 local time
So night runs from 23:00 to 07:00, which is 11pm to 7am. What those regulations are for matters as much as the hours. They exist so the authority can measure long-term average sound levels from major roads, railways, aircraft and industry, four metres above the ground on the most exposed wall of a building, and draw maps from the result. They ban nothing between those hours.
This part is our reading
The Criminal Code says what the offence is without saying when night begins. The noise regulations say when night begins without forbidding anything. Reading the second into the first is reasonable, because 23:00 to 07:00 is the only night Maltese law defines, and it remains a reading. A court decides what night time means in article 338(m) on the facts in front of it, and we have found no decision that takes the hours from the noise regulations. Those hours are a sound choice for your house rules. They are not something to tell a guest the law imposes.
What a noise offence costs.
The two provisions carry their punishments differently, so they are worth keeping apart. Both are criminal contraventions, and both are decided by a court rather than settled at the door.
Criminal Code, article 338
€6.99 to €58.23
The Code sets three punishments for a contravention: detention, a fine called an ammenda, or a reprimand. Where nothing else is specified, article 13(1) puts the ammenda between those two figures.
Code of Police Laws, article 41
Up to one month
Article 319(1) lets a court award the Criminal Code's contravention punishments, or, if it considers the offence deserves heavier, a larger fine known as a multa or imprisonment for up to one month.
A conviction is also a record, and for a licensed property it opens a second consequence that the fine does not describe.
What noise can do to a short-let licence.
L.N. 92 of 2026 gives the Malta Tourism Authority the power, under the short-let category. Read the condition attached to it rather than the power.
The Authority may suspend or withdraw a licence, whether temporarily or permanently, in the event of breaches of regulations relating to noise, waste management, health, or other related criteria, as established by final decisions of a competent court having res judicata effect, or by enforcement notices issued by other competent authorities that are no longer subject to appeal or review.
If you are a neighbour
Telling the operator, or telling us, does nothing to the licence by itself. The Authority does not decide the noise question. It waits for a court decision that can no longer be appealed, or for another authority's enforcement notice in the same state. That route runs through the Police, and it runs slowly.
If you hold the licence
One angry complaint is not a threat to your licence. A conviction is. The distance between the two is where answering quickly and keeping a dated record of what you did is worth the effort.
L.N. 92 of 2026 was read in full for this page. It sets no quiet hours for a short let and the Sixth Schedule contains no noise standard at all, so quiet hours in your house rules are yours to set. The general law above still applies to whoever is staying.
If you rent your home, the remedy is somewhere else.
The Private Residential Leases Act was read in full and it says nothing about noise. No noise, no nuisance, no quiet enjoyment. What a tenant has comes from the Civil Code instead, in the list of things a landlord owes without anybody having to agree them.
The lessor is bound, by the nature of the contract, and without the necessity of any special agreement ... (c) to secure the lessee in the quiet enjoyment of the thing during the continuance of the lease.
The same Code puts the matching duty on the other side. Article 1563 makes a tenant liable for damage caused by their family, their staff, their guests and anybody they sub-let to. Whoever holds the tenement answers for who they let into it.
What this page cannot tell you
Whether article 1539(c) makes a landlord answerable for a noisy neighbour they do not control is the question most tenants actually have, and it is not answered on the face of the article. Take it to somebody who can act on it.
Questions people ask.
- What are the quiet hours in Malta?
- The law does not say when night begins. Article 338(m) of the Criminal Code makes it a contravention against public order to disturb the repose of the inhabitants at night time, and it does not say when night begins. The only hour any Maltese instrument attaches to the word night is in the environmental noise regulations, S.L. 549.37, which set the default night period at 23:00 to 07:00 for the purpose of measuring noise. That is a definition used to draw noise maps rather than a curfew, so 11pm to 7am is the best answer available and it is not a prohibition in itself.
- Is it illegal to be noisy at night in a private flat in Malta?
- It can be. Article 338(m) of the Criminal Code binds every person rather than only a licensed business, and nothing in it stops at the front door. Article 41(2) of the Code of Police Laws separately covers operating a loudspeaker or an amplifier "upon any other premises" so loudly as to cause a nuisance to occupants of premises in the neighbourhood, which reaches a speaker inside a home.
- What is the fine for noise in Malta?
- A contravention under article 338 of the Criminal Code carries the punishments that Code sets for contraventions: detention, a fine known as an ammenda, or a reprimand. Where nothing else is specified, article 13(1) puts the ammenda between 6.99 and 58.23 euro. A contravention of article 41 of the Code of Police Laws is separate, and article 319(1) of that Code lets a court award a heavier fine or imprisonment of up to one month if it considers the offence deserves it.
- Can a short-let licence be suspended because of noise?
- Yes, and the condition is the part worth knowing. S.L. 409.24 lets the Malta Tourism Authority suspend or withdraw a licence for breaches relating to noise, but only as established by a final decision of a court that can no longer be appealed, or by an enforcement notice of another competent authority that is no longer open to appeal or review. A complaint on its own does not reach the licence.
- What can a tenant do about noise in Malta?
- The Private Residential Leases Act says nothing about noise. A tenant's claim against a landlord comes from article 1539(c) of the Civil Code, which binds a lessor to secure the lessee in the quiet enjoyment of the thing let for the whole lease. Whether that reaches a disturbance the landlord does not control is not answered on the face of the article, and it is worth asking a lawyer about your own tenancy.
- Do short-let rules set quiet hours in Malta?
- No. L.N. 92 of 2026 was read in full and it sets no quiet hours and no noise standard for short lets anywhere in the Sixth Schedule. An operator who writes quiet hours into house rules is choosing them. The general law in the Criminal Code still applies to whoever is staying.
What we could not confirm.
- Quiet hours of 10pm to 7am are widely quoted in Malta. We have not found an instrument that sets them, and the only hours we could source are the 23:00 to 07:00 above.
- A 1am limit on amplified music being audible outside premises in St Julian's, St Paul's Bay and named Valletta streets. The press reports it as a legal notice from 2019 and we could not find the notice, so we cannot cite it. It also reaches establishments rather than homes.
- Local council bye-laws. They are the likeliest place for a stated hour and they may differ between localities. legislation.mt publishes them, and its bye-law listing did not answer us. This is the next thing we will read.
- What the Local Enforcement System Agency can do about noise, and whether any on-the-spot fine exists. Named in press coverage of the 2026 enforcement package and not read.
Everything above is read out of the instruments themselves, and each one is named so you can check it. We are not lawyers and this is not advice about your own situation. If a dispute turns on any of it, take the provisions to somebody who can act on them.