Tourism Minister Ian Borg’s announcement that controversial plans for neighbour approval of short-let rentals will be scrapped have been met with tacit approval though his pledge to introduce rules to ensure neighbourly respect have been greeted with doubts.

In November, Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) CEO Carlo Micallef said the authority was planning on withholding short let licences from apartment owners unless there was agreement on the matter within their block.

The plans were understood to have come in response to complaints of excessive noise, littering and frequent turnover of guests from residents sharing apartment blocks with short-let rentals. 

But in an interview on Times of Malta’s podcast Times Talk to be released tomorrow, Borg said the measure announced under former minister Clayton Bartolo was “unfair” and would not be going ahead. 

While saying the plans that surfaced last year would have been unjust to those whom the government had “encouraged” to invest in properties, Borg stressed the importance of not allowing short lets to “negatively impact the quality of life” of other residents, however.

“There will be rules to ensure neighbourly respect, to address noise and waste management and the government must enforce them”, he said. 

Times of Malta spoke to those who had reacted to news of the plans in November to see what they thought to the change in direction. 

‘Catastrophic’

Matthew Zammit, the founder and CEO of property management company 360 Estates, which manages “hundreds” of Airbnb short-lets, said he was pleased the decision had been reversed, saying the move would have been “catastrophic” for the sector. 

“It’s a positive thing that it’s not happening; we should never have a situation where your neighbour tells you what you can and cannot do,” he said, adding news of the plans floated in November had already impacted him and his clients.

“Lots of sales were broken because of this,” said Zammit. 

However, he stressed he still wanted to see the sector regularised, suggesting ways of tackling complaints could include requiring service agreements for rubbish collection as a path to getting a licence, for example.  

Stressing that rubbish collection was the most pressing issue facing the sector, he said “if we push on anything, we should push on that”.

Other ways of tackling complaints could include insisting on in-person check-ins for arrivals at late hours and installing noise sensors in short-let apartments, he said.

‘You can’t run a country like that’

Swieqi mayor Noel Muscat wasn’t in favour of the measure when it had been proposed, arguing it would have “brought confusion and just shifted the problem” but insisted yesterday on the need for “strong regulations and a clear direction” in its place. 

“Every time we change minister we have a change of direction – you can’t run a country like that,” he said. 

Emphasising that the main problems facing Swieqi from short-lets were “garbage, vandalism and disturbances”, Muscat said while he was “all for a change in the right direction and welcome any measures to help these problems” he wanted to see stricter laws to address them.

The Swieqi mayor reiterated his calls to determine a “carrying capacity” for the locality, without which, he warned, it could turn into an “extension of Paceville”.

Acknowledging there was a high demand for short-lets, Muscat said “let’s not stop it, just control it”.

‘If we can’t enforce existing regulations, what’s the point?’

Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association (MHRA) president Tony Zahra reiterated his calls to first ensure all short-let rentals were licensed before discussing other ways of regulating the sector. 

Repeating his November assertion that there were around 4,000 unlicensed short-let properties across the country, he said: “It’s good to talk about bringing in new regulations but when we can’t enforce existing ones, what is the point?”

Current rules state that those wanting to rent out their property as a holiday home must be licensed by the Malta Tourism Authority.

Zahra said the country was in a “ridiculous situation where those [short-let owners] that are doing things correctly are being penalised” and reiterated his desire to see more enforcement of licensing requirements. 

“Once the existing regulations are enforced, then we can talk about new ones. Until then, we’re just penalising those who are doing things right.”

‘Enforcement? Seriously?’

Meanwhile, online reactions seemed to focus on the promise of more stringent enforcement – while appearing to expose doubts about the government’s ability to do so.

Commenting under a Facebook post linking to the Times of Malta article about the change in direction, one user said “Rules that are never enforced are but drops in the ocean” while another commented, “Enforcement? Seriously?”

Another described the situation as “frustrating”, asking who would enforce the new rules. “Who will enforce it, the police? They tell you come and do a report,” (sic) he said. 

Many responses to the article on the Times of Malta website followed a similar theme, with one commentator calling the news a “good joke” and accusing the authorities of putting business interests before residents. 

One person said similar enforcement had been promised to Valletta residents “but now loud music at night became the nightmare for the neighbours” (sic) while another said: “Wake me up when those landlords and owners actually follow the rules you created.”

One commentator simply asked: “Since when has anything been enforced in this country?”

Some were more positive, however; one user said it was “good to see common sense prevailing”, adding: “Well done.”