The Planning Authority (PA) has said it will be taking action in the case of a Sliema apartment that was found to be housing 45 migrant workers. 

The authority said it was “issuing an enforcement notice” though it did not provide further details of what actions the enforcement would include.

The PA was called on to investigate the case by Sliema mayor John Pillow after it emerged earlier this month that a large number of workers were living in cramped and unsanitary conditions in the apartment.

In an email sent to the authority at the time demanding action, Pillow cited Subsidiary Legislation 552.15, which allows for “not more than six residents living together” in a non-family dwelling.   On June 1, Times of Malta reported that over 40 migrant workers were paying up to €250 a month each to share a single apartment in Sliema.

The tenants in the George Borg Olivier Street residence sleep up to nine in a room, share three bathrooms and wash and dry their clothes on a single outside balcony.  

Sources said a police inspection had taken place at the apartment alongside Housing Authority and Health Ministry officials. All tenants were found to be living in Malta legally. 

Responding to questions from Times of Malta, however, the Housing Authority admitted that in such cases its remit remains limited.  

One of the rooms in the Sliema apartment Photo: John Pillow.

“The Housing Authority has only the powers bestowed on it by chapter 604... which deals with the various options of rent registration,” it said in a statement.

It was investigating the case in Sliema further and would be doing all in its power to ensure that laws it is responsible for are “strictly observed,” it added. 

Chapter 604, or the Private Residential Leases Act, was brought into law in January 2020 and regulates how contracts are drawn up between landlords and tenants.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Health Ministry said the owner of the property had been immediately instructed to “clean up and regularise the position of the respected tenancies.”

“A follow-up control will be carried out to ascertain that the required remedial action was taken. Legal action from the Environmental Department’s end will be instituted against the owner and/or the business operator if the latter does not comply with our directives,” the spokesperson said.