The fact that Henley and Partners – the citizenship scheme concessionaires – are planning to set up an estate agency in Malta under the name Henley Estates Ltd, is not worrying leading estate agents in the least, since “Henley does not hold the experience they do in the property market”.

A one-year residency for citizenship scheme applicants in Malta is mandatory and applicants would therefore require a property in Malta, be it to rent or buy – and a high-end property that is.

A number of leading estate agency owners contacted by this newspaper said that they did not fear the news that Henley Estates would be setting up shop in Malta. They were replying to this newspaper’s suggestion that Henley Estates would end up having the upper hand in the high-end property market because of the likelihood that citizenship applicants will choose to turn to Henley Estates for property-related advice, using the agency as a one-stop shop.

The estate agents are confident that due to Henley Estates’ lack of experience in the property market, as well as the fact that Henley and Partners will not hold exclusivity for the citizenship scheme – since a number of companies are understood to have applied to offer their services – the agency would not pose a significant threat to other agencies.

Remax Malta co-owner, Kevin Buttigieg said that Henley Estates is simply another start-up agency, while pointing out that the roles of Henley would be conflicting, since while they would be serving as concessionaires of the scheme, they would also act as a property consultant to citizenship scheme applicants.

He said that although Henley would serve as a one-stop shop for applicants, they were not equipped to penetrate the market, since they hadn’t the relevant experience; besides, it is now known that the exclusivity of the scheme will not lay solely within Henley and Partners but other agencies would participate.

Mr Buttigieg further added that he was very surprised to have heard that Henley and Partners are opening their own agency instead of collaborating with local agents in order to give their clients a much better service – provided that they choose the right agent.

Dhalia owner Chris Grech said that “we have recently received the news that Henley and Partners will not hold exclusivity for the citizenship scheme and a number of companies have applied to offer their services.

“With regard to their real-estate arm, I have no doubt that, with the clients’ best interest in mind, one would require access to a large portfolio of properties and would recommend a number of reputable agents to work with,” Mr Grech said.

Frank Salt director Grahame Salt said that if Henley and Partners do not work hand in hand with local agents, they could possibly take the lion’s share of sales to individuals taking up the residency scheme. However, it is unlikely that they would manage to source the properties on their own and would hopefully appreciate that for their own sake, as well as their clients’, they should work with local estate agents, who will definitely have a better understanding of the local market.

Malta is planning to sell 1,800 passports for €650,000 each, and the government, at least for the time-being, has no plans to increase the number of passports for sale.