Buy it quietly: a second home on a buyer's permit in Malta Living

Want a second home on a buyer's permit in Malta Living? The normal way says no. Tourists and permit holders who buy outside the homes open to all buyers need a buyer's permit, the AIP, and it covers one home at a time. Malta's tax authority sets out the same limit in its conditions for buying property.

So the game now offers a way round it, with real consequences if it goes wrong. Buy it quietly is a Risky move: a fixer sets up a small company, and the company buys the home for you.

Where you'll see it

Open Homes on your phone and tap Buy outright. On a home the permit rules refuse you, the normal button stays shut and says why. Under it sits Buy it quietly, in the Risky look: a white card, a red outline, the red Risky chip and a red €.

It only shows where you'd be refused:

• Your buyer's permit is used. You already own one home bought with it, so every other home outside Tigné Point, Portomaso and Pender Place is off limits.
• Locals never see it. They can buy anything already.
• Homes open to all buyers sell the normal way, to everyone.

Our guide to coming as a tourist, on a permit or as a local explains who needs a buyer's permit in the first place.

The deal

Tap it and the sheet shows everything you'll pay, in cash, at once:

• The price of the home.
• The fixer's fee, 8% of the price.
• Stamp duty at the full 5%. A company is never a first-time buyer.

On the one-bedroom flat in Sliema that's €40,000, €3,200 and €2,000: €45,200 in all. There's no loan. A bank would ask whose company it is.

Once it's yours, it works like any home you own. Live in it, furnish it, watch it grow in value, or let it quietly for a bit more rent. Homes keeps it in the risky look, with "Yours, quietly · in a company's name", so you never forget.

The registered letter

Checks do happen. As with every risky move, the game never says how likely one is. It does tell you this much: letting the home quietly as well makes a check likelier. Two secrets are easier to find than one.

If a check finds out, the next time you open the game a registered letter arrives. Ten seconds with the envelope in your hand, then:

• The home is sold off at 80% of what it's worth, and that money is yours.
• A fine of 5% of what you paid.
• If you let it quietly too, your tenant leaves and that let's own fine comes with it.
• A mark on your record for 12 hours, like any fine. No heat stars.
• No quiet buys for 30 days.

Living there when the letter comes? You move back to the home you had before, and your things come with you.

Selling it, or cleaning it up

You can sell it yourself any time at the normal price, less 2% for closing the company. Selling ends the risk.

There's a better ending, too. Work toward long-term residence in Identità, and Homes offers Clean it up: put the home in your own name for 2% of the price. The checks stop, and you can rent it out the normal way. It's the long road, and it pays off. If you'd rather keep your money working elsewhere, see investing in property, cabs and businesses.

New here? Read what the Malta life simulator is all about, or play Malta Living free in your browser.

Questions people ask

Can I take a loan to buy quietly?

No. It's cash only, the whole price, the fee and the duty at once.

Does a letter take my other homes?

No. Each home bought quietly is checked on its own. A letter about one sells only that one, and starts the 30 days with no quiet buys.

What happens to the fine if I'm short of money?

The forced sale pays you first, so the fine comes out of that. If you've spent everything else, it takes what you have and never more.

Can a local or a permit holder with no home yet buy quietly?

No. A local buys anything the normal way, and a permit holder who hasn't used their buyer's permit buys their first home with it.