Can your neighbours stop you running a short let in Malta?
No, not under the licensing regime. Maltese law gives neither the neighbours nor the condominium a vote on whether a short-let licence is issued. The Tourism Accommodation Regulations, 2026, Legal Notice 92 of 2026, subsidiary legislation 409.24, in force 15 June 2026, require the licensee to notify the building administrator in writing once the licence has been issued, and to send a copy of that notification to the Malta Tourism Authority. That is a one way notice after the fact. It is not a consent and there is no objection mechanism attached to it. What can stop a short let is the title deed, the registered rules of the condominium, and the planning position of the unit, and all three of those are checkable before you buy.
Condominium approval was announced, then dropped.
On 12 November 2024, at the Association of Catering Establishments annual conference, Malta Tourism Authority chief executive Carlo Micallef set out a plan under which owners seeking a short-let licence would have to obtain the approval of their condominium by majority vote at a general meeting, renew that approval every three years, and appeal to a designated mechanism if the condominium refused. Properties with direct access from the street, which in practice means terraced houses, villas and maisonettes, were to be exempt.
None of that is in the regulations as published in April 2026. The condominium appears once, as a notification duty owed after the licence issues. The three year renewal, the general meeting vote and the appeal mechanism do not exist in law.
This matters because a large part of what is written online about short lets in Maltese apartment blocks still describes the 2024 proposal as though it were the rule. If an agent, a seller or a neighbour tells you the block has to vote on your licence, they are quoting a press conference, not the statute book.
The Condominium Act is about the shared parts of the building.
The Condominium Act, Chapter 398 of the Laws of Malta, came into force on 1 July 2001. It regulates the common parts: the stairwell, the roof, the facade, the lift, the shared services and the money spent on all of them. It is not a licensing statute and it does not grant co-owners a power to approve or refuse a tourism licence.
Three things in it are worth an owner's attention.
- An administrator must be appointed where the building has more than three units. With three or fewer, the owners may administer jointly instead, unless they agree otherwise.
- Rules of the condominium are approved by a majority representing two thirds of the condomini, under article 22(7), and are submitted to the Land Registrar under article 24(3). The administrator is then bound to ensure they are observed, under article 16(1)(a).
- Condominium disputes go to arbitration rather than straight to court, under article 19(2) and (3). A condominus can refer a matter to arbitration directly.
Maltese practitioners summarise the voting thresholds as three tiers. Routine decisions such as appointing a cleaning contractor pass by simple majority. Extraordinary repairs and alterations to the common parts, and changes to the rules, need two thirds. Decisions that change the aesthetics or decor of the building, that seriously affect the use and enjoyment of the common parts, or that touch the stability or security of the building, need all the owners.
That last tier is the one short-let operators collide with, and it has nothing to do with guests. Fixing a keybox or a smart lock to a common facade, putting a sign in the entrance hall, or running a cable through a shared shaft are alterations to the common parts. Those need the consent the Act requires, whatever the MTA licence says.
Seven possible obstacles, and which of them has teeth.
| Source | Can it stop a short let | What it actually does | Where to check it |
|---|---|---|---|
| A vote of the condominium | No | The regulations contain no consent or objection mechanism for co-owners | Not applicable |
| The block administrator | No | Must be notified in writing once the licence issues, and cannot refuse | The Condominium Register at the Land Registration Agency |
| Registered rules of the condominium | Sometimes | Adopted by two thirds under article 22(7) and registered with the Land Registrar, so they are discoverable and the administrator must enforce them | The Condominium Register, Form 2 filing if one exists |
| The deed of sale or a servitude in title | Yes | A prohibition or servitude constituted by public deed and registered in the Public Registry operates against third parties, which includes you as a later buyer | Your notary, before the promise of sale |
| Planning permission on the unit | Yes | The MTA requires valid development permission and architect certification that the unit conforms to it. No conformity, no licence | The Planning Authority file, and your architect |
| The licence conditions themselves | Partly | Cap of two persons per Planning Authority approved bedroom and ten occupants per unit unless the unit has independent access from a public road. No basement bedrooms. No single booking over 90 consecutive days | S.L. 409.24 and the MTA licence |
| Neighbour complaints after you open | Partly | There must be a named natural person reachable 24 hours a day and a notice outside the property carrying the licence number and those contact details. Complaints route to the operator and to the MTA, and the MTA can suspend or revoke a licence | The MTA |
Positions as at 1 October 2026 under the Tourism Accommodation Regulations, 2026 and the Condominium Act, Chapter 398. This is general information and not legal advice on a specific property.
The Condominium Register is public, and most buyers never open it.
The Land Registration Agency maintains an official public Condominium Register for Malta and for Gozo, under the Condominium Act and subsidiary legislation 398.01. It records every appointed administrator, with registration number, address and date of appointment, and it records the rules of the condominium where they have been filed. Anyone can search it.
The limitation is that filing the rules is optional. The administrator is registered on Form 1, submitted in duplicate and signed, with the original resolution signed by at least two thirds of the owners. The rules go in separately on Form 2, and only if the condominium has them and chooses to file them. The fee is 5 euro per unit in the condominium. So a blank entry in the register does not prove there are no rules. It proves nobody filed them.
Which is why the register is the second place to look, not the first.
Do these five things before the promise of sale, not after.
- 01Have your notary read the deed for a prohibition on use. Maltese ownership is limited by law and by rights lawfully vested in others. A servitude or a restrictive condition created by public deed and registered in the Public Registry binds you as a later buyer. This is the single restriction that reliably kills a short let, and it is found in fifteen minutes by someone who knows where to look.
- 02Search the Condominium Register for the building. Note the administrator and whether any rules have been filed on Form 2. Read them if they have.
- 03Ask the administrator in writing for the current rules and the minutes of the last two general meetings. You are entitled to know what the building has already decided about the common parts, and the minutes will tell you whether short lets have come up.
- 04Pull the planning file. The MTA will not license a unit without valid development permission and architect certification that what was built matches what was permitted. If the bedroom count on the permit is lower than the bedroom count in the property, your occupancy cap drops with it, because the cap is two persons per Planning Authority approved bedroom.
- 05Check the access. A unit with independent access from a public road escapes the ten occupant cap, and a property with its own front door on the street is usually not in a condominium at all, so the notification duty never arises.
The absence of a veto is not the absence of a problem.
A condominium that does not want a short let in the building has three practical routes, none of which is a vote on your licence. It can refuse consent for works on the common parts, which is a real constraint on access hardware and signage. It can use the 24 hour complaints channel the regulations created, and a documented pattern of complaints reaching the MTA is a licensing risk rather than a nuisance. It can take a dispute about the common parts to arbitration under the Act.
Our position is that a hostile block is a commercial problem before it is a legal one. A property where the neighbours are actively looking for grounds generates complaints, and complaints generate reviews, inspections and friction that cost more than the property earns. We have declined properties for this reason. The licence being obtainable is not the same as the property being worth operating.
The better outcome is almost always procedural. Notify the administrator properly and early, give the building a named person and a phone number that is actually answered, keep the occupancy inside the approved bedroom count, and handle the first complaint within the hour. Most objections in Maltese blocks are about noise at two in the morning and bins in the wrong place, and both are operational.
Straight answers.
Not through the licensing process. The Tourism Accommodation Regulations, 2026 give neither the neighbours nor the condominium any power to approve, refuse or object to a short-let licence. The only condominium obligation in the regulations runs the other way: once the licence has been issued, the licensee must notify the building administrator in writing and send a copy of that notification to the Malta Tourism Authority. What can actually stop a short let is a prohibition in the title deed, registered rules of the condominium, or a planning position that will not support a licence.
No. A condominium approval requirement was announced by the Malta Tourism Authority on 12 November 2024, under which owners would have needed a majority vote at a general meeting, renewed every three years, with an appeal mechanism if the condominium refused. That proposal did not make it into the Tourism Accommodation Regulations, 2026 as enacted. There is no vote, no renewal and no appeal, because there is nothing to appeal against.
Once the Malta Tourism Authority has issued the licence, and where the property forms part of a condominium, the licensee must notify the residential block administrator in writing and provide a copy of that notification to the Authority. In practice the notice carries the licence number, the name of the owner or operator, and the contact details of the named person who is reachable 24 hours a day for complaints. The administrator receives this information. The administrator cannot withhold anything in response to it.
Rules of the condominium are approved by a majority representing two thirds of the condomini under article 22(7) of the Condominium Act and are submitted to the Land Registrar under article 24(3), after which the administrator is bound to ensure they are observed. A rule that restricts short letting may therefore exist and be enforceable against you, so it has to be read before you buy rather than argued about afterwards. The Condominium Act itself governs the common parts of a building rather than the use an owner makes of their own unit, so whether a particular rule reaches inside a private apartment is a question for a lawyer on the actual wording, not a question with one general answer.
Five checks. Have your notary read the deed for a prohibition on use or a registered servitude, because that is the restriction that binds a later buyer. Search the public Condominium Register at the Land Registration Agency for the building, which records the appointed administrator and any rules filed on Form 2. Ask the administrator in writing for the current rules and the minutes of the last two general meetings. Pull the planning file, because the Malta Tourism Authority requires valid development permission and architect certification of conformity, and because your occupancy cap is two persons per Planning Authority approved bedroom. Check whether the unit has independent access from a public road, which removes the ten occupant cap.
Three things, none of them a vote on the licence. They can refuse consent for works on the common parts, which matters for keyboxes, smart locks, signage and cabling, since alterations affecting the aesthetics of the building or the use and enjoyment of the common parts need the consent the Condominium Act requires. They can complain through the 24 hour contact the regulations oblige every licensee to provide, and escalate to the Malta Tourism Authority, which can suspend or revoke a licence. They can refer a dispute about the common parts to arbitration under article 19 of the Condominium Act.
Sources
- Malta Tourism Authority, short-let rented accommodation
- Malta Tourism Authority, Tourism Accommodation Regulations 2026
- Tourism Accommodation Regulations, 2026, S.L. 409.24
- Condominium Act, Chapter 398
- Land Registration Agency, Condominium Register
- BusinessNow, 12 November 2024, on the proposed condominium approval requirement
Last reviewed 1 October 2026. This page is general information, not legal advice. Have a notary read the deed on the specific property before you commit to it.
Send us the address and we will check the building, not just the apartment.
Before we take a property on we read the deed position, search the Condominium Register, and look at the planning file. If the building will not support a short let we tell you before you spend anything on it.