A tenant was forced to call the police when his landlord burst into his bedroom while he was sleeping and threatened to kill him in a dispute over a rental contract.

Aleksandar Vukoje told Times of Malta he was woken up on Thursday afternoon by his landlord, who, he said, accessed his apartment without permission and burst into his room shouting abuse.

Video footage of the incident shows the landlord telling Vukoje he was going to make him bankrupt and “slit your throat”, in a tirade of abuse lasting around 10 minutes that only ended after police arrived on the scene.

He said that Saturday, he has been left without water and electricity after both supplies were disconnected by the landlord.

Vukoje had been sharing an apartment in Swieqi with a flatmate for almost three years when the pair received a WhatsApp message from their letting manager in February telling them their contract would not be renewed when it expired at the end of June.

His flatmate left the apartment soon after while Vukoje decided to stay until the end of the contract, agreeing with the property manager he would pay half the rent while the other room was vacant. 

However, he never received notification from the Housing Authority that the contract would be terminated, and last Monday was notified it had been extended for another year.

According to Housing Authority rules, a tenant must be informed by registered mail three months before the end of their contract if the landlord does not intend to renew it.

But on Thursday, Vukoje woke up to his landlord standing in the entrance to his bedroom shouting abuse and accusing him of owing him money, according to video footage captured of the incident.

In the footage, the landlord can be heard saying “I’m a multimillionaire... I can bankrupt you,” and that he owned 150 flats and would “make you poor with the lawyer.”

In an expletive-ridden verbal assault, the landlord told the 37-year-old Serbian national he would “slit your throat and flush it down the toilet... If I touch you, I open you.”

The landlord insisted he had the right to enter the property and would sleep at the apartment that night despite having the “best villa in Madliena," and could also be heard threatening a man Vukoje said was a friend staying with him temporarily.

“I’ve had troublemakers in my life, believe me... I love trouble, me. I love it; it’s my hobby... You’ll see what I do. I already have people running after you,” the landlord told Vukoje.

When contacted, the landlord claimed Vukoje owed him €2,500 in utilities payments and had refused to pay rent. But screenshots of payments shared with Times of Malta indicated the tenant had made payments for both until the end of May.

Screenshots of messages exchanged between the property manager and Vukoje show the latter requested a meeting to pay the rent for June – a meeting he said he requested because he wanted a receipt for the payment – before the incident at the property occurred.

The landlord said he entered the apartment after phoning Vukoje repeatedly and knocking on the front door.

When asked about the utilities, the landlord admitted cutting off the supply of water and electricity to the apartment but said he did so to avoid the government cutting off the supply of utilities to the whole building due to unpaid bills.

“I’m not a charity, I'm trying to do business,” he said, adding he would be happy to continue renting to Vukoje if he continued to pay rent.

Speaking to Times of Malta after the incident, Vukoje said he felt "afraid and frustrated... anytime I hear steps in the building I get worried for my safety.”

Vukoje claimed matters were made worse when the police officer on duty at St Julian’s police station neglected to file a report, forcing him to return on Sunday to report the incident to another officer.

Commenting on the actions of authorities, he said he was “disappointed by how they reacted,” but stressed he wanted to continue staying at the property to defend his rights.

“We cannot allow this to keep going on; it has to end somewhere. At least I’m going to be proud that people are made aware of these things. This is an EU country; I have the same rights as Maltese people but I’m treated differently.”

Questions were sent to the police.

'Unacceptable' police attitude 

In a statement on Wednesday, Solidarjeta' the tenants' union, said that while this was an extreme case, it was not an isolated incident.

"We have heard of, as well as personally dealt with, cases of landlords attempting to take the law into their own hands and committing criminal acts, which are met with inaction by the police."

The union commended a police superintendent for the way he handled its report about the case, but said the attitude within the Police Corps that does not treat tenants’ and foreigners’ issues seriously was unacceptable.

"It should not be the case that police will only take criminal action against a landlord once a Maltese legal representative is present," the union said.

It insisted that Aleksandar should be given access to water and electricity and that the criminal act of shutting off utilities cease immediately.

It also called for Police Commissioner Angelo Gafa to ensure that the Police Corps starts taking tenant issues seriously without the need for legal representatives to intervene.

The union said the Housing Authority should not allow landlords or property managers with proven cases of tenant mistreatment and criminal behaviour to continue being landlords