Rent Vigilantes Posing As Tenants On A Mission To Expose Malta’s Greedy Landlords
Greedy landlords beware! A group of people fed up with Malta’s constantly inflating rental market has started posing as tenants and filming the rundown properties that are being put up for rent.
The vigilantes have remained anonymous but are posting their videos on a Facebook page called ‘Malta Greedy Landlords, Expensive Rents, Empty Apartments’, whose self-described aim is to raise awareness about the state of the rental market.
“We want to stop people from paying insanely high rents for properties that aren’t worth it. Rents have increased by 200% in the past three years, and this is one because people are greedy. I know the island is getting overcrowded but I also know there are plenty of vacant properties out there. Greedy landlords want to take advantage of the overcrowded islands and overprice properties by up to three times their value. We will go for strikes as well in the future and make a change eventually. The majority will prevail!”
The vigilantes’ video of a derelict apartment in Buġibba went viral last week
The vigilantes have uploaded two videos so far. The first one, an exposé of a rundown apartment in Buġibba that was gong for €600 a month, went viral last week.
The latest one, a feature of a converted underground garage in the middle of an unknown garage complex is decidedly more intriguing. The landlord can be seen opening a garage door to a fully furnished basic studio apartment, complete with water and electricity and tiles on the floor, which he said can be rented out for €350 a month. With two beds, modern wardrobes and kitchen dressers and a relatively large bathroom, even the man behind the camera remarks that it is “honestly not that bad” for today’s market.
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