Wednesday, 11th November 2009
UK lottery winner eyes holiday home in Malta
Donna Rhodes Photo: Martin Rickett/PA Wire.
One of the UK's biggest lottery winners plans to buy a holiday home in Malta with the £6.5 million she banked, leaving local tourism promoters and property negotiators rubbing their hands in glee.
Donna Rhodes, 39, could be anyone's neighbour when she starts to realise her dreams and spend her share of the £45.6 million, scooped by a seven-strong syndicate in last Friday's Euromillions draw.
The group of office workers, based in Merseyside, only formed the syndicate, the Magnificent Seven, four months ago. They do - or rather, did - IT work for Hewlett Packard, in Liverpool.
"I didn't have any holidays left and was due to work over Christmas so the best news is I won't have to any more. Instead, I can hand in my notice," said the mother of two teenage children. And possibly spend the festive season here...
"We'd love a little holiday home in Malta," Ms Rhodes, originally from County Durham but having spent the last decade in Liverpool, was quoted as saying in a Press Association article.
She could get a lot more than that, the Frank Salt Real Estate chairman speculated, calculating she was not likely to spend more than 10 per cent of her winnings on her holiday home, leaving her with a hefty €760,000 in her pocket for the property.
"That means she can get herself a super duper house: anything from a lovely farmhouse, with a swimming pool, to a luxury bungalow in Santa Maria Estate, or a Portomaso apartment," Frank Salt said.
"The reason she has chosen Malta is probably because she is an ordinary person like you and I, who comes here on holiday, has lots of friends and always dreamt of buying a home. Suddenly, she has the money and that is exactly what she is going to do!"
The president of the Federation of Estate Agents (Malta), Ian Casolani also welcomed Ms Rhodes's decision, saying this was what individual estate agents and the federation were constantly pushing for and what Malta can be all about.
"We're constantly working to promote its attractiveness and we know foreigners have a good feeling for it, choosing it as a place to retire, or even work from if they are not tied down to a particular country," said Mr Casolani, who is director of Belair Real Estate.
Ms Rhodes's choice may not be such a novelty but her lottery story had "even more romance to it and is definitely something to talk about", he said. Throwing a pinch of politics into the fairy tale, the estate agents, however, took the opportunity to express disgruntlement at property-related Budget measures, saying Ms Rhodes would end up paying a "horrendous and unfair" tax rate if she sold her house even after seven years.
While it was better than nothing, increasing from five to seven years the choice of whether to pay normal rates on capital gains or 12 per cent final withholding tax was "a joke in our face", they added.
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Recently found this really interesting blog about Malta, thought to share: http://malta.cc/
In her late teenage years , my younger daughter was dreading living in Malta, and alwaysthought of living abroad ,until .......
she had spent 5 odd months studying in Italy . She soon realized the advantage of time saving, as there she had to JOURNEY, hours spent commuting to and from university , daily errands ,attending mass etc. etc .
Another God given gift is the mild CLIMATE . It could be an overcast, rainy morning and later in the day the sun is shining bright ! Storms are over in a matter of minutes ! Note the recent thunderstorm . The hospitality that the MALTESE are renouned for is the greatest asset .
@Lennie Hoskins - funny comment coming from a Brit, saying that Malta is alike babylon with all the foreigners. If it was tongue-in-cheek, sorry - I must have missed it. I've been around a number of european cities for quite some time, and they're not exactly an example of ethnic purity, are they? Chinese, pakistanis, indians (esp UK), iranians in Germany, while france is packed to the brim with north africans....
If you cannot stand multi-culturalism (I'm not saying I'm for it) then you may have a try at Zurich or Geneva.
Or perhaps the North Pole.
Guys (a couple of Camilleris in particualr) if you don't like it in Malta - you are free to go. This is not East Germany as it was 20 years ago.
You probably don't know what it's like to live in other countries. I have more foreign friends than Maltese, and they would wish to settle in Malta any day.
Where else do you expect to be able to go out every evening for a meal or drink without having to travel for hours? Where else can you get to the nearest seaside in 30 minutes?
Prices? Try Rome, Palermo, Barcelona, Greece, for prices and compare. Forget about central europe.
Despite all the negative news we get, MAlta still remains one of the safest places to live.
I had a couple of friends who spent a few months in Cyprus - they were not too impressed.
And what about the weather guys? This lady is not talking about coming to malta for work experience like most Maltese do when they go abroad. Its a holiday home and our weather is ideal.
Wish her the best may she enjoy her prize!
Gozo is a different story. It is excellent for retiring but not for jobs. Its beuaty, no traffic lines, easy parking (except Victoria), not much people, quiet beaches and clean air make the place ideal.
Malta the main cause of its problems is simply too many people.
Don't listen to the agents, you do not have to spend so much money.
You are right. If you hate school Canada is the place for you. I myself liked school, maybe that is why I did not like it the 6 years I did there and much prefer the UK.
I think you are right though there used to be lots of great factory jobs there.
One euro gets you four pastizzi.
Arrange for your fruit and veg supply from home, as the prices here are criminal.
P.Symonds
Hope your new country of choice is the land of your dreams! Could you kindly keep your cynicism on Malta to yourself now? Thanks.
@Ms. Moore
Malta, like each and every country, has its fare share of people who want to scrounge off of other people, cheat, etc, as you are implying. Yes, of course. Does this make all the Maltese the same? Again - we might not be perfect (I have my fair share of complaints myself) - but either get used to the way of life here, or get used to the way of life somewhere else! Thanks!
Just don't bring any more Liverpool fans with you - we're already overrun. Evertonians are extremely welcome though!
Mr. Hinton, your family is also welcome. Malta is a wonderful place to live in, even though, as others have commented, we DO have our fair share of problems. But then again, which country doesn't?
I hate the fact that estate agents are already speculating how much Ms. Rhodes will spend, etc - does not really give the image of a warm welcome, I must admit! And using this for even further publicity about issues property agents have is even worse! Can we be positive without being greedy, please, for once?
@ C.A. Camilleri
Your comment is typical of a large number of Maltese Moaners who never do a thing about their situation except moan. Yes, this country does have its fair share of problems and things to complain about - as does every other country. I am sure if you lived abroad you would still find things to complain about - though I would like to invite you to take the opportunity and try it out if you're so uncomfortable in Malta.
We holiday in malta every year, and are getting close to selling up and moving.
Can we come and live among the friendliest and warmest people in the world ?
Mrs Rhodes couldnt choose a better place to live !