ACT No. XXVIII of 1988 AN ACT IQ rrwk~ provision for the granting of certain incenlivt.'J for the encouragement of Home Ol'lmi'rship.

I assent.

P AU L XUEREB

Acting President

281h October. 1988

ACT No. XXVIII of 1988

AN ACT IQ rrwk~ provision for the granting of certain incenlivt.'J for the

encouragement of Home Ol'lmi'rship.

BE IT ENACfED by Ihe President, by and with the advice and

consent of the House of Representatives, in this present Parliament

assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows;-

l. (1) This Act may be cited as the Home Ownership Shonti.le.

(Encouragement) Act. 1988,

In th is Act unless the conIc;'" otherwise requires

"beneficiary" means the person 10 whom any ofthe incentives,

referred to in Section 3 oflhis Act, are granted ;

"dwellil'lg-house" has the same meaning assigned to it under Ord. XlXA

th.e Housing ( Decontrol) Ordinance, 1959;

cl I'm

" Housing Authority" means the authority established by

Section 3 of the Housing Authority Act, 1976;

" Housing Secretary" has the same meani ng assigned to it by Ad n

the Housing Act, 1949;

{J( [949

"Minister" means the Minister responsible for housing, and

includes any Parliamentary Secretary with responsibility for

housing: and

"usufruct" ha.>; the same meaning assigned to it in Section 2 of Ad XLVII

the Death and Donations Duty Act, 1973.

oflm

The Ho using Aut hori ty or the Housing Secretary may make [ __ 'i ... for

regulation, with the approval of the Minister, providing for schemes for _...,...".rsbip.

the encouragement of home-ownership in Malta, whereby persons are

encouraged \0 acquire a dwelling h.nuS!: for their own residence by being

granted all or any onc or more of the following incen tives

(a) re lief from the duty chargeable under the Duty on

Documents Act, 1981;

(b) relief from Ihe du ty chargeable under the Death and

Do nations Duty Act, 1973;

(c) the riglll to register the dwelling hOllse as a decontrolled

dwelling-house unde r the Housing (Decontrol) O rdinance, 1959.

(I) The grant of any of the incentives under section 3 of this

Act shall be made and shall be evidenced by a certificate which shall be

issued by the Housing Authori ty or the Housing Secrelary. as the case

may require.

(2)

Except for the purposes of paragraph (b) of soxtion 5 of

thi~ Act , ~ certificate issued under subsection (I) of this section shall

have effect only if it is an nexed to the deed whereby the dwelling-house

to which it refe~ is acquired.

(3) A certificate issued under subsection (1) of this section

shall contain the full particulal'll of the beneficiary, a full description of

the dwelling-house for the acq uisit ion of which the incentives under this

Act are being granted and the specific incentives being gra nted in

accordance with the scheme.

(4) Wit hout prejudice to any liability under any other law

any pc rwn who forges a certificate purporti ng to be issued under

subsection ( I ) of th is section, or who shall knowingly make use of such

forged document or of a copy thereof. shall be guilty of an offence and

shall on conviction be liable to ~ fine (mU/la) of onc thousand Maltese

Liri or to imprisonmen t for a term not exceeding two years or to both

such fine and imprisonme nt .

S. A relief from duty u nder the Duty on Documents Act. 1981.

may consist in all or in anyone or more of the following exemptions

from the duties chargeable unde r the said Act, that is to say

(a) an e~em ption from the duty chargeable under Title III of

Part III of the said Act on the deed whereby Ihe dwelling house

being acq uired under Ihe scheme is transferred to the beneficiary;

(b) an exemption from the duty chargeable under Title IV of

Part III of the said Act, on any appraisement or valuation of the

dwe lling house being acquired unde r the sc)l eme in connection

with

(i)

its transfer to the beneficiary;

(ii) the grant of any loan by any ban k or other institution

to the beneficiary for the purpose of the acquisition of such

dwelling-house;

(c) an exemption from the dut y chargeable under Title V of

Part [11 of the said Act, on the receipt for the payment of the price

o r mher considerati on for which thedwelJing-hollse being acquired

under the scheme is transferred to the beneficiary;

and where relief has bcen so granted the duties aforesaid shall, to Ihe

extent of the relief, not be chargeable.

(1) Whe re relief from duty under th e Death and Donations Rel;'ffrom

Death and

Dut y Act, 1973, is granted , on the death o r lhe beneficiary, and where J)on.a,ions

the benefi ciary is married a t the time of the acquisition of the dwelling- 0.'1_

house, also on the death of the beneficiary's spouse, no duty shall be

payable under the said Act, on account of or in relation to the dwelling-

house acquired under the sche me Oil any of the following

(a) on the transmission through devolution by law or under a

testamentary disposition by universal or particul ar title of the righ ts

of the beneficiary or of the beneficiary's spouse over the dwelling-

house;

(b) on the transmission causa morris of the usufruct of the

dwelling-house or share the rein, in favour of the beneficiary or the

widow or widower of the beneficiary; and

(c) on the consolidation of the usufruct referred to in

pa ragraph (b) hereof with the nuda prop ric/as of th e dwelling-

house , on the tennination of the usufruct.

(2) The exemption grant ed under subsection (I) of thi s

section shall not apply to any pan of the value of such dwelling-house in

excess of seven thousand liri.

Where the right to register th e dwelling-house as a Rich''''

decontro lled dwelling- house under the Housing ( Decontrol) rep''''' .

Ordinance, 1959, is grant ed. such dwelling-house shall be capable of =~~;~.

being registe red as a decontrolled dwelling-house un der :lnd in

accordance with parugra ph (e) of section 3 of the said Ordinance.

~et ion J of th e Housing (Decontrol) Ordinance, 1959, shaH be A n><n<lm<Dt '"

tIK Housinl

amended as follows

(Decontrol)

Ordinance.

(a) for the words "appointed day ." in paragraph (d) thereof 10Wl.

there shall ne substituted the words ~ap!XJin ted day; or~; and

(b) immediately after pa ragraph (d) thereof thare sha ll be

added to th e following

"'(e) was acquired under a scheme as is referred to in the

Home Ownership (Encouragement) Act. 1988, and in respect

of which the right to register as a decontrolled dwellin g-house

has heen granted as an incentive in accordance with that Act;

"

(f) is on the date of the application, ()C(:upied by the

owner as his ordinary residence and has been so occupied by

him, under any ti tle, throughout the period of ten year.;

immediately preceding the date of the application. For the

purpose of this paragraph the e~ prc~ion "ordinary residence"

does not include a sum mer residc IlCC."_

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--

The Srhemes published by Government Notices Numbcl'5 127 r

128.129 and 130 in the Government Gazette of t be 16th February , 1988

"'" <om;",

shall be deemed to be made by regulations made in virtue of and accord-

i"'o{""",

ing to section 3 of this Act .

<rf 'hi>

~,

Passed by the House of Representatives at Sitting No. 144 of the 17th October.

1988. L AWRENCE GONZl

Speaker

P . M USCAT TER RIIHLE

Clerk 10 Ihe House of Repuumalives

IJ<I""""'"'

lppul:>bhkat mid_Dipa" imon, ""l.!nfo,manjoni K.,hl;.o P.M"",J by Ih.

of l'if"",,"'ion _ K."il!"

Motoofli ~ .ls .. mp<ri), ,.,·G.-., . _ /'rim«i '" Ih. GO\ · "" ~,,, " , p,."J/;"g /,,, ...

L-Iskemi ppublikati pennezz ta' 1·Avviti tal-Gvern Numri 127,

128. 129 u 130 fil- Gazzcua tal -Gvem \35-16 ta ' Frar. 1988. ghandho m

jitqicsu li huma maghmula b'regolamcmi maghmula bis-sa hha ta' u

skond l-artikolu 31a' dan I-AIL

Mghodd i mill -K amra lad-Dcputati fis-SedUl3 NfU. 144 tas-l1 ta' Ol1ub ru , 1988.

LAWRENCE GONZI

Speaker

P. M USCAT TERR16Il. t;

Skrivan tal. KamTll lad· D eplUi1li