What must a Maltese rental agreement contain?

Article 6(1) of the Private Residential Leases Act requires writing and seven things: the tenement, the agreed use, the period, whether and how it may be extended, the rent and how it is paid, any deposit, and an inventory signed by all parties. Article 6(2) makes an agreement missing any one of them null and void.

Does a Malta rental agreement need a notary?

Article 6(1) requires the agreement to be in writing. It does not require a public deed, and we have found nothing in the Act requiring a notary for a private residential lease. That is what we have found rather than a guarantee, so if a notary has told you otherwise about your own arrangement, follow that.

Does the Housing Authority publish its own contract?

Yes. Article 6(3) lets the Authority publish a model agreement and a standard form, and its own guidance refers to a specimen contract on its website, which is what it asks for when a lessee is added to an existing lease. Look at that one too. Ours is built from the seven requirements article 6(1) lists and is not the Authority's form.

Is this generated agreement legally binding?

It is a contract if both parties sign it, and like any contract what it is worth depends on what it says and on the circumstances it was signed in. We build it from the seven requirements the Act lists, and we are not lawyers and cannot tell you it fits your letting. Have it read before you sign it.

Do I still have to register the lease?

Yes. Registration with the Housing Authority within thirty days is the landlord's obligation under article 4, and a contract which is not registered is null and void whatever it says. Generating an agreement here does not register anything.

Article 6(1)

A lease with all seven things in it.

Article 6(1) of the Private Residential Leases Act lists seven things a residential lease must contain, and article 6(2) makes an agreement missing any one of them null and void. This asks for the seven, and prints them in the Act's own order with the article beside each clause.

The agreement

Who is signing.

The lessor, in fullIdentity card or passportThe lessee, in fullIdentity card or passportA tenant from outside Malta gives their passport number here.

The place, and what for.

The tenementArticle 6(1)(a). The address as it should read on the contract.

LocalityPostcode

The agreed useArticle 6(1)(b).

How long.

Which kind of lease

The day it startsArticle 6(1)(c).How many months

Whether it may be extended, and howArticle 6(1)(d).

Money, and the inventory.

The rent a monthArticle 6(1)(e).Due on thePaid by

The depositArticle 6(1)(f). It has to be stated even when there is none, so say none.The inventoryArticle 6(1)(g). Signed by all parties, with photographs and a short description of each, and required even when the place is let unfurnished.

Before you sign

What this does, and what it does not.

It does

Put all seven of article 6(1)'s requirements in the contract, in the Act's order, each clause carrying the article it answers. It also prints what the Act provides whatever the parties wrote: registration in thirty days, what a rent increase may be, how the lease ends, and that nothing agreed outside the registered contract counts.

It does not

Know your circumstances, or tell you this is the right contract for them. We are not lawyers and not the Housing Authority, and the Authority publishes a specimen contract of its own that is worth looking at beside this. It does not register the lease either, and an unregistered contract is null and void whatever it says. Have it read before you sign it.

The dates and the rent ceiling What a landlord owes

Questions

Questions about the agreement.

What must a Maltese rental agreement contain?: Article 6(1) of the Private Residential Leases Act requires writing and seven things: the tenement, the agreed use, the period, whether and how it may be extended, the rent and how it is paid, any deposit, and an inventory signed by all parties. Article 6(2) makes an agreement missing any one of them null and void.
Does a Malta rental agreement need a notary?: Article 6(1) requires the agreement to be in writing. It does not require a public deed, and we have found nothing in the Act requiring a notary for a private residential lease. That is what we have found rather than a guarantee, so if a notary has told you otherwise about your own arrangement, follow that.
Does the Housing Authority publish its own contract?: Yes. Article 6(3) lets the Authority publish a model agreement and a standard form, and its own guidance refers to a specimen contract on its website, which is what it asks for when a lessee is added to an existing lease. Look at that one too. Ours is built from the seven requirements article 6(1) lists and is not the Authority's form.
Is this generated agreement legally binding?: It is a contract if both parties sign it, and like any contract what it is worth depends on what it says and on the circumstances it was signed in. We build it from the seven requirements the Act lists, and we are not lawyers and cannot tell you it fits your letting. Have it read before you sign it.
Do I still have to register the lease?: Yes. Registration with the Housing Authority within thirty days is the landlord's obligation under article 4, and a contract which is not registered is null and void whatever it says. Generating an agreement here does not register anything.