MTA to get power to restrict Airbnb-style rentals under proposed reforms

• Short-lets to feature phone number for 24/7 complaints from neighbours 
• Properties must be empty for three months before being converted to short let 
• MTA to have ability to only allow short-lets in specific areas
• Maximum of six guests per unit 
• Unlicensed properties to be blacklisted for three years

Short-let holiday rental properties could soon feature wall plaques with contact details for property managers publicly visible, under a plan to reform the sector’s rules.

The proposal forms part of a broader effort to revise rules for hotels and short-let properties that Tourism Minister Ian Borg will unveil in parliament on Tuesday.

Those revised rules will also grant the Malta Tourism Authority the power to designate specific zones where short-let licences can be granted, meaning the regulator could effectively ban short-lets in some towns or neighbourhoods.  

The plan will be opened to public consultation before eventually being tabled in parliament. 

In an attempt to discourage property owners from converting long-term rental apartments into short-lets, the reform proposes requiring a three-month “cooling off” period before converted properties can be licenced.

Properties must remain vacant throughout that three-month period.

Booking via platforms like Airbnb and renting apartments instead of staying at hotels has become increasingly popular across the world, and Malta is no exception.

A study commissioned by Malta’s hoteliers found that there were just over 10,000 properties listed on Airbnb and fellow short-let platform VRBO.

The explosion in short-term rentals has led to long-term rental prices rising disproportionately, as the supply of such properties has been squeezed.

“This phenomenon is causing a real housing concern, as the number of long-term rental properties is eroding,” sources close to the changes said.

Contact details visible on properties

To tackle concerns about rowdy, party-going tourists renting short-let properties in residential areas, the reform proposes making short-let property owners or managers directly contactable by irate neighbours.

Such properties will have to display a plaque with the name, surname and contact number of a person who must be available 24 hours a day to "receive complaints and to address any problems arising in connection with the licensed activity." 

“We want to end the anonymity of hosts and ensure that short-lets in residential areas are managed responsibly,” sources told Times of Malta.

Measures that seek to address complaints about garbage being left on streets are also in the pipeline, sources said.

Those plans will be unveiled as pilot projects focused on over-tourism in Swieqi and Valletta. If successful, they will be implemented in other localities, government sources said.

It is the government’s second attempt at regulating short-let properties, after an initial proposal unveiled in 2024 that would have required landlords to get the go-ahead from their condominium neighbours  was shelved following blowback.

The proposed new rules require apartment owners to inform condominium managers of their short-let licences, though they do not need permission to go ahead. 

Short-let properties can only host up to a maximum of six people per unit and rentals for periods longer than 90 consecutive days will be forbidden. 

Blacklisting unlicenced owners

In an attempt to discourage unlicensed short-lets, the proposed new law states that anyone caught operating an unlicensed property will be barred from getting a licence for three years. 

That three-year ban will also apply to the property in question. 

MTA to designate zones

Potentially the biggest change, however, is a clause that will give the Malta Tourism Authority the ability to only issue short-let licences to properties within zones it designated as short-let friendly.

While government sources said that there are no plans to single out any specific areas at this stage, the clause will mean that the MTA could, if it wished, effectively block off all short-let licences within specific streets, neighbourhoods or towns.