A story about the potential fines that could be incurred by people renting their property – or even rooms within their property – without a licence, has deterred dozens of people.
On October 13, The Sunday Times of Malta carried a story reporting that there were 813 properties in Malta and Gozo listed for rent on Airbnb.com alone.
The former president of the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association Tony Zahra then challenged the Government last Sunday to do something about this abuse, saying it should be very easy to check whether these properties, which were easy to identify, were licensed or not.
The Malta Tourism Authority head of enforcement David Mifsud said the authority regularly monitors such sites and warned it was taking action.
“No person, may at any time, describe or advertise any tourism operation unless there is a valid licence in respect of such tourism operation. The MTA carries out regular inspections to determine whether properties are operating with a licence. If found in breach of the relative legislation the MTA can issue fines of €2,329 and the Courts of Justice from €1,165 up to €23,293,” Mr Mifsud said.
The MTA is also legally obliged to pass on information to the Tax Compliance Unit for taxation purposes when so requested, so blatant abuse could also attract attention from the tax department on undeclared revenue.
In reality, it is not quite as easy as Mr Zahra implied as it is not just a matter of cross-checking those advertising against those with licences.
“Advertising does not necessarily mean they are renting. They could be trying out the waters and argue that they would get the licence if they actually got enough interest of bookings to make it worth it,” a source close to the MTA said.
“And even if MTA carries out an inspection, it is not that easy to prove.”
However, it appears that many people realised that the very public listings could easily expose them to investigation and prosecution, and this has had an impact and dozens of listing have been taken down.
The increasing popularity of private holiday rentals was evidenced in the Central Bank of Malta’s second quarter review, which showed that stays in self-catering apartments, farmhouses and private residences increased by 33.8 per cent over the corresponding period in 2012.