The great green backtrack

I am indeed very pleased to notice that my articles on the subject of rent law changes have been so well read and digested by the Greens that the wild promises being made by them have been totally toned down. In a country where few of us actually listen to what the other is actually saying (but usually respond to what we think or what we want them to say!) it is refreshing to notice a great green backtrack on this issue.

In the latest piece by Alternattiva Demokratika there is no promise that all our empty homes will start to be used because of this reform. There is no rubbishing of the fear of the return of the requisition laws as the great barrier to landlords being willing to rent again. There are no wild statements distorting the words of the Prime Minister or calling the new minister in charge of this area spice-coated-as-sugar names.

I won't reciprocate the normal insults addressed to me.

Perhaps we can now talk about the real challenges and real solutions and not make wild statements designed to garner votes. And I would like to stress that no one from the Nationalist or any other party has ever asked me to write on an area or suggested a line of thought. If that is repeated I will sue. My thoughts are my own and with this in mind I wrote against the Verdala golf course before Harry Vassallo ever did and suggested the removal of the right of inheritance before the Greens ever did either.

Sadly, the Greens now have to resort to an article about political party clubs to justify a referendum. I have made it clear time and time again that I concentrate my writings in this area only on residential leases. I would also like to emphasise, though again the Greens try to portray my ideas differently, that I think the landlords are right. They get a pitiful rent. They should get their properties back when the present incumbents leave and slowly some justice will return to this sector.

The chairman of AD is not the only one whom people talk to. I have been stopped time and time again by very ordinary people who are property rich but income poor. Their families have houses which are tenanted and their children and grandchildren cannot access these practically ever, if the right of inheritance remains.

I have also been approached by those who wish to inherit a property from their parents through this terrible right of inheritance. Houses in Dingli Street; flats near Tower Road. And they expect that the landlord should give this up to them! I have told them in no uncertain terms they are wrong to expect this injustice to continue.

However, the most honest approach came from a young man who said that his family did appreciate what I wrote on this area because they are currently experiencing both sides of the equation! On the one hand they own properties which are tenanted at pitiful rents and they would like to get them back. This young man will himself have to struggle to afford a loan to buy while his family owns what is currently worthless property!

On the other hand this family has two elderly aunts who are themselves tenants in fixed rents who clearly can't move and who can't pay much more rent, or not enough to make a difference to their own beleaguered landlord. They definitely don't want their two elderly aunts to be worried by any rent law reform. They agree with me that the only fair way forward is for residential cases at least to phase out/abolish this right of inheritance.

We do though have a large proportion of empty property and property in a poor state of repair which we can use better. Four of my staff who recently benefited from care and repair training in the UK under a Leonardo programme came back to share their experiences. There too so many elderly home owners are asset rich but so income poor that only a care and repair service can stop the rot.

There the banks offer forms of home credit which are more funding friendly and you can tap into the assets without having to make monthly repayments, something which someone on a state pension just cannot afford whether there or here. I do hope our banks will look into this area more sympathetically and though I have had some preliminary meetings and made some suggestions the response so far has not been as encouraging as we at the Housing Authority would like it to be.

Empty homes in Malta are largely not empty because of the rent laws. They are empty because of: disputed inheritances; because of the fear of requisition returning; they are just an investment; they are being kept for the children; they are being left to rot so they can later be pulled down; some are just parts of other properties; some are not suitable as homes; some are not viable to restore but are in protected areas; some are empty because we're giving away too many permits, more than we actually need judging by our demographic projections and other reasons, as varied as they may be.

All these reasons will need specific strategies to address, which I will detail eventually. Perhaps AD could come up with some meaningful suggestions too rather than just talk about a referendum that few will actually be able to understand, particularly as the area has been so muddied by hype, hyperbole and misleading hypothesis.

Ms Micallef is chairman of the Housing Authority.