Old unutilised houses
A ‘well done’ is merited by Prime Minister Robert Abela, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana and Housing Minister Roderick Galdes for the announced 2022 Budget measure aimed at long vacant and unutilised residential properties. I have been writing and arguing for measures targeting this element of our chaotic local housing scenario for many years and I feel happy that, at last, this component of the nation’s unutilised economic assets is receiving attention.
Now, of course, the devil will have to come in the implementation of the measure. Because while the prima facie objective is indeed laudatory, as always the devil will be in the detail. For one thing, the government will need to ensure such properties will not end gobbled up by speculators, contractors, property magnates and such, to be demolished and replaced by apartments and retail projects.
All the benefit of the announced tax waivers must end up going to those whose sole aim is to redo in pure vernacular one- to-two-floor only styles and to be used purely as residences by, preferably, Maltese citizens. A lot of care and attention is needed to ensure that no monkey business follows on what is a very well-intentioned measure.
John Consiglio – Birkirkara
A plea to save Malta
A row of traditional houses, with colourful wooden balconies and doors in Valletta. Photo: Shutterstock.com I am only a child and I cannot change the world by myself. I have so little power and authority but I have been told that I have a talent for writing, so I am using it for a good cause.
I am writing about all the beautiful qualities Malta has and how we are destroying our culture for greed.
We do not seem to be proud of the lovely Maltese architecture. Do you see a skyscraper instead of the stone-built towers in Tuscany, Italy? Can you imagine a five-storey building set among the picturesque cottages in the Cotswolds, England?
We have lovely traditional houses, like, for example, our traditional farmhouse with colourful Maltese balconies, shutter windows and great doors with a unique brass knocker on each side. It seems we are not aware what a jewel of a country we have.
Do you realise that by building plain flats or modern villas, we are just getting a reputation of a colourless and ordinary country? We are losing our unique Maltese mark. Tourists will no longer come to see our charming villages, even though we have a lovely coastline. They will probably go to the French Riviera instead.
“Why should I fly all the way to that island to see nothing but construction? I could easily pop into the next town to see huge rectangles of building ruining the skyline.”
On another note, it feels so proper to see a row of houses in the same style! Thought for some, it is much nicer to own a house with a completely different design than the others, I suspect that building more and more floors is plain greed.
In most European countries, buying a home is not as expensive as it is in Malta. While I am well aware that in big cities, such as London, an apartment would cost quite a lot, I know that, out in the country, one can find cottages for sale from £70,000. That’s much cheaper when compared to Malta. I would really like the prices to go down.
The greedy people among us will eventually realise that a nice view of birds singing, animals in their happy habitat, lovely sea views and a walk in the non-destroyed fields are much more rewarding that stacks of money.
Money is not all, especially if all we can see is a wall outside of our windows. You can only earn true happiness by appreciating life and living it as Jesus would like us to.
Tina Bonnici – Mosta
How much is 0% + VAT?
Brexit is not, as some people seem to think, bad for everybody.
Consider Maltese Customs.
A diary, sent to me from England as a gift, has a disclosed value of €15.49. The Maltese duty on books, according to the official website, is zero per cent. But the VAT (mentioned nowhere) is €4. Plus a “processing fee” (for applying the VAT) of €1.50.
Total: €5.50, or more than 33 per cent of the value, for it to be “released by Customs”.
Nice work, if you can get it. And Maltese Customs can get it, of course, if I want the “gift”.
Revel Barker – Għajnsielem
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