If you are renting a property here in Malta for the first time you will find this article necessary reading. I will try to describe the whole process from the moment you make contact with our company, to the very last minute of your stay when you hand over the keys to the rented property back to the owner.

Since you are already reading this article, you have already taken the first important step in the right direction. You are browsing through the website of a reputable Estate Agent with over eleven years experience to draw on.

In letting real estate, experience is very important as the owner of the property will play a very important role during your stay. Over the years we have grown to know most property owners on a personal basis, which helps us pair owner and lessee as well as possible. There is nothing worse then renting a property from someone who is not totally convinced of you as a lessee, and is just entering the deal for financial reasons. We know which owners prefer older tenants instead of students, which properties are ideal for tenants who want greater privacy, or which owners will accept certain specific conditions in the contract, perhaps a clause allowing pets within the premises.

If you browse quickly through www.62582.com menu, you will realize that the properties are organized by property type and also by area. As you reach the bottom of each page, do not forget to flip the page over by clicking the arrow at the bottom of the page ! This will take you to more property pages of the same type or within the same area.

Your visit to Malta, if job specific could also need a more property selective approach. A diver, for example will nearly certainly require a ground floor maisonette (term for apartment with a private entrance) with a backyard to enable him/her to dry his/her gear and store his/her equipment without hindering neighbours or risking leaving expensive gear on a common roof.

A business man might find a bachelor apartment adequate (a bachelor apartment is one where the bedroom is separated from the living room). However while a bachelor apartment in town usually also has a separate kitchen, a modern one in a new area will probably have a kitchen/living room, which means if one wants to accommodate guests, the kitchen will have to be kept spic and span at all times.

So, as soon as you contact us, we will usually have a quick run through what you have in mind. You will probably point out a few properties that caught your attention and we can probably recommend other similar ones too. Most properties have photos featuring them, though some might not have any due to the fact that they would have been occupied for a long period since we had it photographed last, and therefore we feel we cannot vouch that the property will be in the same state as our previous pictures would show.

Once you have decided what properties you want to see, an appointment is arranged and either I or one of my representatives will meet you and show you around. You might fall in love with an apartment, or house, first time round, or in some cases decide to move further out, or further into town for whatever reasons. In that case another appointment is rescheduled.

To secure a property, it is usual practice to put down a deposit equal to the first month's rent, either with us, or with the owner, and to sign a contract and move in within a week or two. If for any particular reason you are looking to relocate in later then a month's time, it is very important to let us know immediately as some owners are not prepared to wait for longer periods without collecting rent. Others might be more lenient, however the financial implications usually draw a line at any period over a month.

The contract itself is usually very straightforward and the one drafted by our lawyers has been in use for a long time, protecting both Lessee and Lessor in the fairest and most practical way. In contract terms, you are the Lessee or Tenant, and the owner is the Lessor. We will be acting as both your agent and witness to the agreement.

To sign this agreement you will be asked to provide us with a copy of your passport together with the original. The copy is kept for filing while you never part with the original. Financially you will need the equivalent of one month's rent as deposit, one month's rent in advance plus 5% VAT, and half a month's rent plus 18% VAT as the normal estate agency commission. Therefore if for argument's sake, the property is renting at €250 (Lm 107.33) monthly, you will need €250 (Lm 107.33) deposit, €262.5 (Lm 112.48) Rent in advance and €147.5 (Lm 63.32) as commission.

The deposit is refundable on the very last day of your contract after the property has been inspected and found to be in the same condition, except for fair wear and tear, as on the day you moved in. All utility bills must also be paid to the last day, otherwise this amount is deducted from the deposit.

We will provide you with an exact copy of the contract before you actually meet the owner to sign it, so we will be able to cover any questions you might have well in advance.

During your period of rent, our company still does it's very best to help you overcome any difficulties you might encounter during your stay (although technically speaking, our job, which is to introduce the lessee to the property and it's lessor, does not call for this). These difficulties usually turn out to be of a normal nature, to quote a few examples, how to program a new washing machine, how to install cable TV in the apartment, or perhaps how to hook up an internet connection. In such cases we are always happy to put you in contact with the right service providers. We also strongly recommend that if any equipment malfunctions, as nothing in life is perfect, you contact us or the owner immediately rather then try to fix it yourself. In most cases a service guarantee will be running and the right people must be contacted to do the job.

A month before the contract is due to expire, you will be expected to inform us, or the lessor, whether you intend to renew the agreement for a further period, or intend to leave the premises on the due date. If you decide to stay on, a clause is added to the agreement stating that the contract is to be extended under the same conditions, for a further period of X months.

If you do not intend to renew the contract, on the very last day of your stay, one of our representatives, or the lessor, will visit the apartment or house to see that there are no breakages or any structural damage. The utility bills are also checked and any due balances are to be cleared by you. The Lessor then refunds your deposit and all matters are considered settled as soon as you return the key.

If you still have any questions please feel free to contact me on kenneth@62582.com or call on 99-4-62582 (add +356 to the beginning of the number if calling from outside Malta and Gozo).