Owners of apartments who repeatedly rent them to noisy tenants should have their licence withdrawn by the tourism authority, Swieqi local councillor Mauro Miceli is proposing.

“Swieqi residents have the right to enjoy peace and quiet. They have the right to enjoy a good night sleep,” Mr Miceli said, adding he believed the time had come for responsibility to be shared.

Swieqi local councillor Mauro Miceli.

Every summer, as language students and tourists visited Malta in large numbers, Swieqi residents have to put up with fighting, shouting and swearing in their streets, apart from vandalism and urinating on their doorsteps.

The area is located on the outskirts of the Paceville entertainment hub and Swieqi residents had to put up with noisy revellers as they returned to their cars, often intoxicated, Mr Miceli said.

In addition, over the years, houses in Swieqi were demolished and replaced with apartment blocks, which were rented to tourists and language students, especially since there were several language schools in the vicinity.

Mr Miceli said the council knew of some apartments being rented to students, which did not have the necessarily short-let licence issued by the Malta Tourism Authority. The council had already raised this matter with the regulator, he said. Over the past weeks, Mr Miceli added, the council also had meetings with the Federation of English Language Teaching Organisations Malta (Feltom) and with the police.

The council was proposing that language schools assumed some responsibility for what was happening and contributed towards making the place safer for residents.

They have the right to enjoy a good night sleep

Meetings with the police aimed to discuss ways to increase the presence of officers in the area. Last year, a police station was opened but a promise to introduce foot patrols did not materialise, he said.

At the moment, there were three officers at the Swieqi station and the plan was to get a fourth, Mr Miceli said.

The problem was that, at night, when the problems were heightened, there was only one officer. That officer could not move and, if he absolutely had to, the station had to be closed.

Mr Miceli said the problems Swieqi residents were facing would only be solved by increasing the number of police patrols in the evening. Another proposal made by the council, he said, was having electronic surveillance through CCTV cameras in key areas that would then be monitored by the police.

The issue of the situation in Swieqi surfaced in court on Friday when a Libyan man was charged with stealing from a guesthouse there and breaking into several cars. During the case, Police Inspector Elton Taliana spoke about the hardship Swieqi residents faced daily and said that a request had been made to the Police Commissioner to increase the number of police officers there.

Last week, residents held a demonstration and listed proposals to curb crime in the locality. These included the introduction of residential or timed parking; installing security camera surveillance at key points and constant and consistent police patrol.