Scheme to encourage rental of vacant dwellings draws no applications

A Housing Authority scheme aimed at encouraging landlords to rent vacant dwellings to Maltese tenants drew no applications over the past year, the authority's annual report shows. The report was tabled in parliament this week.

In terms of the scheme, known as Scheme T, the owners of vacant dwellings can apply for a grant of up to Lm3,500 in order to renovate the premises, on condition that the premises are then rented to Maltese tenants for 10 years. The funds are also available to would-be tenants wishing to move in.

The tenants are even able to apply under another scheme to have their rent subsidised by the authority.

The scheme was introduced in 1999 when the grant could reach Lm1,800 for would-be tenants and Lm2,500 for the owners. The grant was over the past year improved to Lm3,500 for both cases.

"Landlords are unfortunately still scared of renting to Maltese tenants," the authority's general manager, Lorna Pavia, told The Times.

Such reluctance persists even though the rent laws were amended some time ago so that tenants now do not enjoy the security they enjoyed before, and rents can vary according to market conditions.

Ms Pavia said the purpose of the scheme was to encourage the use of vacant dwellings and thus ease demand for new building.

A survey conducted jointly by the Housing Authority and the then Planning Authority had found that there are 35,700 vacant dwellings, of which some 36 per cent are summer homes.

Other Housing Authority schemes were more successful over the past year. Authority chairman Marisa Micallef Leyson says in the introduction to the report that there was a substantial increase in the money given by the authority to repair dangerous and substandard housing.

In the first three months of this year, a total of Lm300,000 was spent in this way as well as on modifications to the residences of persons with disability.

She said the authority was focusing on the needs of those who were most in need. Cases referred to the authority by social workers, parish priests, MPs, doctors and members of local councils were being handled by a new care and repair service.

Ms Pavia said the authority had even gone directly to parish priests to enquire about people needing help. Yet in some cases, help was refused by such people.

"Some people prefer to continue to live in dangerous houses, refusing repair work, because they argue that such repair work would harm their eligibility for new housing from the Department of Social Accommodation," Ms Pavia said.

The annual report shows that 381 families over the past year bought new properties from the authority, with the commercial price subsidised by a third.

The report points out, however, that demand for the purchase of the new premises at the subsidised price was very low in Gozo. At Xewkija, the authority had offered for sale 14 three-bedroomed maisonettes with garage, but no one applied for them. At Victoria, only half of 18 maisonettes on offer were sold.

The authority over the past year also built 81 apartments to be rented by the Department of Social Accommodation.

Efforts to encourage people to use existing premises instead of seeking new ones also included the installation of lifts in government apartment blocks. Fourteen lifts have been installed so far and the programme will continue next year.

Technical difficulties and delays in the issue of permits from MEPA meant that capital spending by the authority on new apartments reached Lm3 million this year instead of the projected Lm5.9 million. But now that the problems have been overcome and the permits have been issued, work has picked up and spending on new building is projected to climb to Lm7 million next year.

The new building includes blocks in Pembroke which will incorporate solar water heaters and another block alongside the bypass at Birkirkara which will include photovoltaic cells and passive energy saving measures.

The authority is building 58 apartments and 16 shops in Msida, and urban renewal projects are also in hand in Cospicua and Senglea. A project near Mannarino Road, Birkirkara involving the building of apartments, garages and shops, will cost Lm1 million because of measures that have to be taken to control the risk of rainwater flooding.

The Housing Authority report was the first of a series by public authorities and corporations which are expected to be tabled in parliament in the coming days in the run-up to the budget.

The budget is expected to be presented by Finance Minister John Dalli in parliament on November 25. The leader of the opposition will reply on December 2 and the prime minister on December 4. The debate on the financial estimates of each ministry is expected to take until mid-December.

The public bodies whose estimates will also be debated in the House are the Housing Authority, Enemalta, the Transport Authority, the Employment and Training Corporation, the Water Services Corporation, the Malta Tourism Authority and the Malta Environment and Planning Authority.