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Malta Tenant Screening Checklist

Thirteen checks that separate a good tenant from an expensive lesson - identity, income, the Register of Defaulters and references - plus the three lines the law won't let you cross. Your progress saves as you tick.

Tenant vetting
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01

Identity & employment

  • Look, don't copy: photographing or keeping an ID needs the applicant's clear consent under GDPR - and delete it once you've decided.

  • A two-minute call to the employer's main line beats any PDF.

02

Affordability & household

  • You declare the number of residents at registration, and occupancy limits apply - better to know now.

03

Register of Defaulters

  • The register only releases information against a draft lease agreement identifying the contracting parties Cap. 604·Art. 31(2).

  • The answer comes back as a plain yes or no.

  • It only covers unhonoured Adjudicating Panel or appeal decisions from leases signed on or after 1 September 2024, and entries drop off after three years. A 'no' is a good sign, not a guarantee.

04

References & the meeting

  • The current landlord may want them gone; the one before has nothing to gain by lying.

  • Ten minutes in person answers questions no document can.

And the three lines you may not cross

  • You may not reject someone over nationality, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability or family status - equal-treatment law reaches housing, and it applies to adverts as much as decisions.
  • Everything you collect is personal data: gather the minimum, use it only for this decision, and delete it once the tenancy is signed or declined (GDPR).
  • There is no tenant credit score you can lawfully pull in Malta - the Register of Defaulters is the channel the law gives you. Anyone selling you more than that is selling you a GDPR problem.

Why screening in Malta works differently

Landlords arriving from the UK or Germany look for a credit bureau and find none - there is no tenant credit score a private landlord in Malta can lawfully pull. What Malta gives you instead is a short, sharp toolkit: documents the applicant provides (employment, payslips, references), one official register created by the 2024 amendments, and your own judgement at the viewing.

That makes process matter more, not less. Each item in the checklist above is cheap on its own; skipped together they are how landlords end up in front of the Adjudicating Panel. Work through the list per applicant - the ticks reset when you press New applicant.

The Register of Defaulters, step by step

The 2024 amendments created something Malta never had: an official register of people who ignored a rent tribunal's decision. The registry of the Adjudicating Panel maintains it Cap. 604·Art. 31(1), and prospective landlords may query it before signing Cap. 604·Art. 31(2).

Three things to know before you rely on it:

  • The draft lease is the key. Information is only released against a draft lease agreement identifying both parties - the law's way of limiting queries to genuine transactions. Prepare the draft (our agreement generator produces one), then request the check from your rentregistration.mt account.
  • It answers yes or no. No history, no details, no scores - whether the person sits on the register today, nothing more.
  • Its memory is short. Only disputes from leases signed on or after 1 September 2024 can produce entries, and each entry expires three years after it was made Cap. 604·Art. 31(4) - or sooner, once the decision is honoured.

The register cuts both ways, by the way: it lists defaulting landlords too, and your prospective tenant has the same right to check you.

The checks the law won't let you make

Equal-treatment law reaches housing: nationality, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability and family status are off the table as decision criteria, in your adverts as much as your answers. And GDPR treats everything you collect during screening as personal data - gather the minimum, decide, delete.

We wrote up the red flags and the tempting-but-illegal checks in detail in what the law won't let you check about a tenant - worth five minutes before your next viewing.

Frequently asked questions

Half this checklist disappears when applicants arrive verified

On Letify, tenants apply with a profile - occupation, income, household - and can be ID-verified before you ever exchange numbers. Turn on "verified applicants only" and the identity checks do themselves: list once for a flat €49, no agency in the middle.

List your property

Sources: Private Residential Leases Act (Cap. 604), Art. 31, Housing Authority FAQ on private residential leases. Register mechanics as amended by Act XX of 2024.

This checklist is practical guidance, not legal advice. Equal-treatment and data-protection duties apply to how you use it - when a situation feels borderline, ask a lawyer before you ask the applicant.