A family with a young child are being forced to live out of suitcases as they hop from one hotel to another, after their landlord locked them out of the apartment they have been renting for the past seven months.
The family, who spoke to The Sunday Times of Malta on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions, described how they had problems with the supply of electricity and water in their apartment since they started renting it in September.
Recently, they returned home to find the landlord had replaced the lock without their knowledge and their things were all inside.
With her five-year-old daughter sitting on her lap in the lobby of a hotel, the frustrated mother told The Sunday Times of Malta that while several police reports had been filed and she had also sought help from her lawyer, the process of getting their things back and sorting the problem out seemed to be dragging on at a snail’s pace. She explained that she had paid the landlord €8,400 in September, with the amount covering rent for six months. As the family’s house is being renovated, they decided to stay on until June, paying a further €5,000.
There needs to be better monitoring by the authorities so that landlords do not continue getting away with this sort of thing
Despite this, the woman explained, it became evident recently that the landlord wanted them out before, despite their written contract.
“It seems that he had found other tenants who were willing to pay more money. We had had enough of his antics and trouble with electricity and water and so decided that we would move out by May 8. But after agreeing to that, it seemed he changed his mind and wanted us out immediately, so he replaced the gate and the main door’s locks and we’ve been forced to live in hotels since,” the mother said.
She said she had no other option but to buy her daughter new clothes and toys since all her things were still locked inside the apartment.
The family said they wanted to tell their story to the newspaper after realising that other people had also been dealing with tenants who abused. While they would be taking legal action against the landlord, they wanted to use their experience to raise awareness to unscrupulous ones.
“There needs to be better monitoring by the authorities so that landlords do not continue getting away with this sort of thing,” the mother said.
She insisted that while the police were helpful, there were restrictions and at times there was not much they could do to help as very often the law was not in their favour.
Some landlords even resorted to physical threats, as was the case with hers, the woman went on – and this would scare tenants into clamping up about their ordeal.