While the couple have reached out to the police and a report has been made, with officers looking into the contract, they say their landlord is still refusing to provide them with electricity again and has been threatening them with eviction for almost a week now.

“We had agreed on a payment of €1,800 by the end of December. But then on the 23rd, he was expecting the full amount. I told him that I have to collect all the rent money and my payment along with my wife. He then decided to switch off the light and use the payment as leverage,” the French man said.

The situation got so desperate that he even offered the landlord another €200 in the hope that the electricity would be turned back on.

After taking the money, the man landlord apparently told him that the electrical problem was fixed –  however, when he returned home, the situation was still as it was and they remained in the dark.

Lovin Malta spoke to the couple’s landlord, who gave their side of the situation.

“The couple is renting out rooms to five persons, thus making a profit from our property. However, we are being expected to cover their services bills or else risk having our own home services suspended. We have offered them a way out, but they want to keep on making money on us,” he said. 

Apart from the French couple, they also have a number of language students staying at the same house, who have also been left without electricity or heat. 

“I’m feeling affected because I cannot cook, and now my friend cannot help me. I don’t have enough money to eat outside,” one of the students expressed desperately.

“During the time I lived with them I witnessed situations in which the landlord did not solve occasional problems that occurred, namely electricity problems in which for a month we had no access to electricity in the kitchen area, and we were without a refrigerator, and the landlord did nothing,” one of the past students staying at the house told Lovin Malta.

Upon returning to the police station, a clause in the contract was found, which outlined that the landlord reserves the right to switch off the electricity in the event of a lack of payment.

The tenant’s lawyer also pointed out that what is happening is illegal, as the landlord is trying to evict the couple illegally by making the house uninhabitable.

“From my side, I will stay in the property, unless they give us back the money they have taken for the months of November and December,” he said. 

Multiple individuals have also come forward and offered their help and shelter for the affected couple, which Lovin Malta has passed on to the couple.

What do you make of the French couple’s situation?