Residents living in government property in Cottonera are being given the opportunity to become home owners by means of government subsidy.

Parliamentary Secretary for Lands Jason Azzopardi addressed some residents at the Gardjola Garden in Senglea yesterday, saying that during the post-war period, the expropriation law was used, and the government has been paying an annual fee on certain land in the area.

Over the past year, the Lands Department invested about €1 million to get title of land, making it possible for residents to buy their apartments from the government. About 370 apartments in Cottonera are expected to be up for sale.

Family Minister Dolores Cristina, who also addressed residents in Senglea yesterday, expressed satisfaction that people were being given the opportunity to become home owners.

She assured residents who don’t intend buying the property that they have nothing to worry about as long as they continue paying their rent on a regular basis. The minister added that a number of other initiatives related to social housing will be announced shortly. The Housing Authority is becoming more and more “socially-minded”, she said.

By means of the scheme Ninvesti fid-Dar Tiegħi (Investing in my own home), the authority is targeting people who have been recognised tenants of their residence for more than seven years. Both Maltese and EU citizens can benefit from the scheme, and the sale of property will be subsidised under certain conditions.

Once interested parties submit their initial application, the Housing Authority would get all the necessary permits for the sale of property, and calculate the commercial value of the property. This would be done together with the Kamra tal-Periti.

The Housing Authority would then inform applicants about the price of the property, and if they decide to proceed with the sale, they would be asked to submit a second application together with the necessary documents; the subsidy for which the tenants would be eligible would then be calculated according to their assets. Only residents having less than €100,000 in assets on the day the scheme was announced (yesterday) are eligible to a subsidy.

Assets Subsidy

€0 - €70,000 45%

€70,001 - €80,000 40%

€80,001 - €90,000 35%

€90,001 - €100,000 25%

€100,001 and over 0%