Rehabilitation of Vacant Dwellings

Overview

Malta has a good deal of housing standing empty. An inherited family home nobody has got round to dealing with, a holiday property that stopped being used years ago, a building that needed too much work at the wrong moment. This scheme is aimed at those owners, offering a grant of up to €50,000 to bring such a property back to a habitable standard, on the condition that it is then leased to the Housing Authority for ten years and used for social accommodation.

In practice it works as the front end of the Nikru biex Nassistu arrangement. The grant pays for the rehabilitation, and the finished property enters the same ten year leasing structure, with rent paid six months in advance and rising two per cent a year.

Who This Is For

This is an investment proposition for owners of vacant property. It is not relevant to someone buying a home to live in.

Eligibility

The ownership requirement is stricter here than in most Housing Authority schemes. The applicant must be the absolute owner of the dwelling, not a co-owner, tenant or long lease holder, and must be legally authorised to rent it to the Authority. They must be a Maltese citizen, which is worth noting because the published Terms and Conditions make no provision for EU citizens, unlike most of the Authority's other schemes. Applicants must be at least 18, and where they are not separated, both spouses must apply jointly.

The property must have been vacant for at least a year before the application, with evidence to prove it, and must have been built at least 20 years before the application is submitted. It must comply with planning permits and sanitary and building regulations, and cannot sit in a slum area earmarked for demolition.

One further condition sits entirely within the Authority's discretion, and it is the one most likely to end an otherwise sound application. The property must be considered suitable for the Authority's social accommodation requirements, and the Authority can refuse any property offered under the scheme on that basis alone, however well every other condition is met.

What It Offers

The grant of up to €50,000 covers extraordinary structural repairs, alterations or extensions needed to make the dwelling suitable for accommodation, repair or replacement of electrical, plumbing and drainage systems, installing or improving a bathroom or shower room, floor tiles, external apertures and balconies, internal doors, roof waterproofing, damp proofing as a permanent solution to rising damp, facade restoration, other finishing work needed to bring the property up to standard, and professional fees where a Planning Authority permit is required.

Once rehabilitated, the property is leased for ten years at a rent set according to its size, location and layout together with the grant amount approved, paid every six months in advance by direct credit and rising two per cent a year.

Two financial details deserve particular attention. First, the grant is not entirely a gift: twenty five per cent of it is recovered by the Authority through reduced rental payments across the ten year term, leaving seventy five per cent genuinely retained. Second, the owner pays tax on the rental income at a rate of five per cent. This differs from the plain Nikru biex Nassistu scheme, where the Authority settles the tax and the rent reaches the owner tax free, and the two are easy to confuse because the leasing structure is otherwise the same.

At the end of the ten years, the Authority returns the property in a good state of repair, allowing for wear and tear.

Applying

Applications carry a €50 administrative charge, which is never refunded under any circumstance, and must be lodged in person with all requested documents attached. Failing to appear for the deed of grant or the lease agreement when called upon means the application is treated as abandoned, with that charge lost.

Approved works must be completed within twelve months of approval, though the Authority may extend that period at its sole discretion. The grant is paid only after the Authority has confirmed the works were carried out in full and as approved, against fiscal receipts in the applicant's name. Nothing is paid for work carried out before the Authority has inspected the premises, or where the permits required by law were not obtained. The applicant must allow the Authority to inspect the property at any time.

The Authority can register a special privilege, special hypothec or general hypothec over the property for ten years to secure repayment of the grant.

What The Owner Remains Responsible For

Once the works are done, the owner carries the same continuing obligations as under Nikru biex Nassistu. That means insuring the property and common parts against all risks including third party risks, and submitting the policy to the Authority annually. If they do not, the Authority can take out the policy itself and deduct the cost from the rent.

The owner also handles all extraordinary repairs and maintenance, including structural work, ordinary maintenance of the external envelope, and plumbing, electrical and drainage faults, along with reinstating any damage caused by poor maintenance. In a block of apartments that extends to the common parts: structural repairs, the external envelope, the roof, common electrical faults and the intercom, lift maintenance and engineer certification, rescue line charges, unscheduled repairs, regular decoration, and the electricity and meter charges for common areas. Tenants remain responsible for ordinary maintenance of the property they occupy. Where the owner does not carry out repairs that fall to them, the Authority can do the work, or delegate it, and deduct the cost from the rent.

The kitchen and bathroom must be equipped to the standard the leasing scheme requires. One detail is easy to miss: where the fridge freezer, hood, oven, hob or water heater need replacing during the lease, the Authority may replace them without notifying the owner, and those appliances do not return to the owner when the lease ends.

Selling during the lease is permitted, but the owner must tell the Authority, inform the buyer that the property is subject to the rental agreement and its terms, and attach that agreement to the deed of sale.

What Can End or Require Repayment

The most significant condition is also the simplest. If the owner decides to terminate the lease, in any circumstance at all, the full grant must be refunded to the Authority.

Breaching the scheme's conditions can end the lease, or, where the Authority chooses not to terminate, attract a penalty of up to €20 per day until the owner is back in compliance. False declarations carry a fine equal to the entire grant received, a five year ban from every Housing Authority scheme, and the possibility of criminal proceedings.

Source & Verification

This summary is verified against the Housing Authority's 2026 Terms and Conditions for the scheme, cross checked clause by clause, last verified on 4 August 2026.

• Scheme page: https://housingauthority.gov.mt/scheme/rehabilitation-of-vacant-dwellings/

Disclaimer: This information is provided for general awareness only and does not constitute financial or legal advice. Schemes are reviewed and amended periodically, so availability, amounts, deadlines and eligibility criteria may have changed since this page was last verified. Always confirm current details on the official Housing Authority scheme page before applying or making any decision.