A stamp duty reduction scheme for second-time buyers which was announced in the last Budget has been finally rolled out through a backdated legal notice.

The legislation was published last Tuesday, a day after Times of Malta ran a story highlighting the delay to launch the scheme, which was meant to come into force last year on October 10.

The newspaper also reported a Finance Ministry spokeswoman saying government would be sticking to this time frame by means of a backdated legal notice.

While no indication was given when this would happen, the legislation, ‘Duty on the acquisition of the second immovable property to be used for own residence (exemption) order 2018’ was published within a day from this story, on January 30.

It is even more generous for persons with a disability

Legal Notice 35 of 2018, as it is also known, states that the refund is only granted if the acquisition of the new house and the sale of the old one occur within 12-months of each other. However, only those who bought their second home from October 10, 2017 (inclusive) to the end of this year will be eligible for the scheme.

If successful the applicant will get a refund on the stamp duty paid on the first €86,000 of the value of the new property, which translates to €3,000.

The scheme offers even more generous terms for persons with a disability, the only difference being the benefit applies for acquisitions going back to the start of last year. In this case the benefit goes up to the first €150,000 of the value of the new house, which translates to a refund of up to €5,000 in stamp duty. The scheme also applies to guardians of persons with a disability.

At stated in the Budget, the beneficiaries must not be in possession of any other property, including airspace or a plot of land, in order to be eligible.

Claims for the refund must be submitted in writing within two months of the last contract.