HOME OWNERSHIP (ENCOURAGEMENT) 
(PURCHASE OF PRIVATE DWELLING-HOUSES SCHEME) [ S.L.328.04 1
SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 328.04
HOME OWNERSHIP (ENCOURAGEMENT) 
(PURCHASE OF PRIVATE DWELLING-HOUSES 
SCHEME) REGULATIONS 
26th November, 1991
LEGAL NOTICE 180 of 1991.
Citation. 
(Encouragement) (Purchase of Private Dwelling-Houses Scheme)
Regulations.
Making of 
Scheme.
2. The Scheme entitled Purchase of Private Dwelling-Houses
Scheme, 1991 (Scheme H) in the Schedule to these regulations
shall have effect from the date of the coming into force of these
regulations for the encouragement of home ownership in Malta and
shall lapse one year after that date.
Annulment of L.N. 
140 of 1990.
3. The Home Ownership (Encouragement) (Purchase of
Private Dwelling-Houses Scheme) Regulations, 1990, are by this
annulled.
SCHEDULE
(Regulation 2)
Purchase of Private Dwelling-Houses Scheme, 1991
(Scheme H)
Citation.
Houses Scheme, 1991 (Scheme H) and shall apply to applications
for the purchase of dwelling-houses not the property of the
Government by persons to whom this Scheme applies.
Interpretation.
"aggregate annual income" has the same meaning assigned to it
in clause 5(3);
"applicant" means a person who applies for the purchase of a
private dwelling-house under this Scheme;
Cap. 261.
"the Authority" means the Housing Authority established by
article 3 of the Housing Authority Act;
"basic year" means the year immediately preceding the year in
which an application under this Scheme is made and with reference
to clause 9(4) it means the year immediately preceding the year in
which a revision under that sub-clause is due;
"beneficiary" has the same meaning assigned to it in article 2 of
the principal Act;
"dwelling-house" has the same meaning assigned to it in article 2
of the principal Act;
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HOME OWNERSHIP (ENCOURAGEMENT) 
(PURCHASE OF PRIVATE DWELLING-HOUSES SCHEME)
"emphyteuta" includes a sub-emphyteuta;
"Government" means the Government of Malta;
"ordinary residence" does not include a summer residence;
"prescribed" means prescribed by the Authority;
Cap. 328. "the principal Act" means the Home Ownership
(Encouragement) Act;
"private dwelling-house" means a dwelling-house which is not
the property of the Government;
"recognised tenant" means a person holding a private dwelling-
house under a title of lease from the lessor and recognised as such
by the lessor.
"tenant" includes sub-tenant.
Applications for 
purchase.
3. (1) Any person qualified to do so under this Scheme may
make an application on the prescribed form to the Authority
requesting a home purchase assistance grant to purchase a private
dwelling-house occupied by him as his ordinary residence.
(2) A person shall qualify to make an application under this
Scheme where, on the date of the application:
( a ) the applicant or, in the case of a married couple, the
applicant’s spouse, is a citizen of Malta; and
( b ) the applicant and the applicant’s spouse or fiancée/
fiancé are residents of Malta and have been so resident
continuously for not less than twelve consecutive
months immediately preceding the date of the
application; and
( c ) subject to the provisions of sub-clauses (6) and (7), the
applicant is a recognised tenant or a temporary or a
perpetual emphyteuta who occupies as his ordinary
residence the private dwelling-house in respect of
which the application is made and, in the case of a
perpetual emphyteuta, who on the contract of transfer
of the premises had bound himself to redeem the
groundrent due and this obligation was undertaken on,
or before, the thirtieth (30th) of June, 1991, and the
said contract was duly registered at the Public Registry
or at the Land Registry, as the case might be, during
the period of time prescribed by law; and
( d ) the applicant and the applicant’s spouse or fiancée/
fiancé have continuously occupied the dwelling-house
as aforesaid for a period of not less than one year
immediately preceding the date of the coming into
force of these regulations.
(3) A person shall not qualify to make an application under
this Scheme if the applicant or the applicant’s spouse has already
benefited under:
( a ) any of the schemes published by Government Notices
Numbers 11 and 12 in the Government Gazette of the
6th January, 1987; or
HOME OWNERSHIP (ENCOURAGEMENT) 
(PURCHASE OF PRIVATE DWELLING-HOUSES SCHEME) [ S.L.328.04 3
( b ) the scheme published by Government Notice Number
138 in the Government Gazette of the 20th February,
1987; or
( c ) any of the schemes published by Government Notices
Numbers 124, 126, 127, 128, 129 and 130 in the
Government Gazette of the 16th February, 1988; or
( d ) any of the schemes published by Legal Notices 137,
138, 139 and 140 in the supplement of the Government
Gazette of the 7th September, 1990; or
( e ) any assistance under what used to be known as the
"Home Ownership Scheme" or any other assistance for
the encouragement of home ownership by the
Department of Social Housing or by the Land
Department or by the Authority or by any of them
jointly.
Cap. 303.
(4) A person shall also not qualify to make an application
under this Scheme if he has acquired land from the Government
which had been expropriated by virtue of the provisions of the
Building Development Areas Act.
(5) Notwithstanding the provisions of sub-clause (3), a person
who benefits, or qualifies to benefit, under this Scheme shall not be
disqualified for that reason alone from benefiting, after the coming
into force of these regulations, under the scheme published by
Government Notice Number 124 in the Government Gazette of the
16th February, 1988 or under any other. scheme substituting it.
(6) Where a person is a sub-tenant or sub-emphyteuta that
person shall not qualify to make an application under this Scheme
unless he has reached agreement with all those persons from whom
his title derives.
(7) Without prejudice to the dispositions of sub-clause (8),
where a person occupies a dwelling-house which is the property of
his parents or a dwelling-house which is the property of relatives of
the first generation such person shall not qualify to make an
application under this Scheme.
(8) Where a person occupies and is co-owner of a dwelling
house and this co-ownership has been acquired by that person by
means of inheritance, that person shall qualify to make an
application under this Scheme to buy out the share/e of the other
co-owner/s and thus become the absolute owner of the dwelling-
house he occupies.
(9) Saving the provisions of clause 13, any expenses incurred
by the applicant in connection with his application shall not be
recoverable by the applicant whether or not his application is
successful.
Legally separated 
spouses.
4. An applicant who is legally separated from his spouse shall
produce a copy of the final judgement of the competent court
pronouncing separation or a copy of the public deed effecting
separation by mutual consent of the spouses with the authority of
the competent court.
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HOME OWNERSHIP (ENCOURAGEMENT) 
(PURCHASE OF PRIVATE DWELLING-HOUSES SCHEME)
Aggregate annual 
income.
5. (1) For the purposes of this Scheme, the income of the
applicant shall include:
( a ) gross gains or profits from any trade, business,
profession or vocation;
( b ) gross gains or profits from any employment or office;
( c ) gross gains or profits arising from the sale of any
property or from the carrying on or carrying out of any
profit-making undertaking or scheme;
( d ) dividends, interests or discounts;
( e ) any pension, charge, annuity or annual payment;
( f ) rents, royalties, premiums and any other profits arising
from property;
( g ) the value of any produce receivable in respect of the
use of capital, property, seed or stock for the purpose
of husbandry or any share of profits receivable in
respect of such use;
( h ) any social benefit or allowance;
( i ) any gains or profits falling under the descriptions in
the foregoing paragraphs of this sub-clause other than
those in paragraphs ( a ) and ( b ), made by the
applicant’s spouse or fiancée/ fiancé;
( j ) fifty percent (50%) of the gains or profits falling under
any of the descriptions in paragraphs ( a ) and ( b ) made
by the applicant’s spouse or fiancée/fiancé;
( k ) any other gains or profits.
(2) Where the applicant, and in the case of a married or
engaged couple, the applicant or his spouse or fiancée/fiancé, or
both, was or were gainfully occupied as provided in subclause
(1)( a ) and ( b ) during only a part of the basic year, the gains or
profits from such gainful occupation for the whole basic year shall
be calculated by projecting the gains or profits made from such
gainful occupation during the said part of the basic year by the
applicant and/or his spouse or fiancée/fiancé, or by both, as the
case may be, for the whole basic year.
(3) The aggregate annual income of the applicant shall be the
income of the applicant determined in accordance with sub-clause
(1) of this clause from which the sum of one thousand liri
(Lm1,000) shall be deducted.
Information. 6. (1) The applicant shall give all that information regarding
his financial means as he may be required to give by the Authority
and for this purpose the applicant shall authorise the Commissioner
of Inland Revenue, the Director of Social Security and any other
person as may be necessary, to give the Authority any information
concerning the applicant’s income during the basic year.
(2) The Authority may require the applicant to sign any
declaration it may consider necessary for the carrying out of this
Scheme and the applicant shall allow the Authority to inspect his
ordinary residence and any other tenement held by him as the
HOME OWNERSHIP (ENCOURAGEMENT) 
(PURCHASE OF PRIVATE DWELLING-HOUSES SCHEME) [ S.L.328.04 5
Authority may require.
Home purchase 
assistance grant.
7. (1) Where an application under this Scheme has been
approved by the Authority a home purchase assistance grant, the
amount of which shall be determined in accordance with the
following provisions of this clause, shall be paid by the Authority
on the publication of the deed of sale and on behalf of the purchaser
to the seller on account of the price.
(2) Subject to the provisions of sub-clause (5), where the
dwelling-house to be purchased was built and completed for
habitation before the 1st of January, 1939, the amount of the
purchase assistance grant shall be 60% of the agreed price.
(3) Subject to the provisions of sub-clause (5), where the
dwelling-house to be purchased was built and completed for
habitation after the 1st of January, 1939 but before the 1st of
January, 1960, the amount of the purchase assistance grant shall be
40% of the agreed price.
(4) Subject to the provisions of sub-clause (5), where the
dwelling-house to be purchased was built and completed for
habitation on or after the 1st of January, 1960, the amount of the
purchase assistance grant shall be 25% of the agreed price.
(5) Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this clause,
the amount of any purchase assistance grant paid under this Scheme
shall in no case exceed the sum of sixteen hundred liri (Lm 1,600).
Payment and 
redemption of 
ground rent.
8. (1) In any case where, following the purchase of a private
dwelling-house in pursuance of an application approved by the
Authority under this Scheme, ground rent is payable by the
purchaser, the amount, terms and conditions for the payment of
such ground rent shall be those approved by the Authority and in no
case shall the ground rent payable by the purchaser exceed the
amount of ground rent payable immediately before the publication
of the deed of sale.
(2) Any person whose application under this Scheme has been
approved by the Authority, and where the dwelling-house to be
purchased is subject to the payment of ground rent, shall bind
himself, either before or on the publication of the deed of sale, to
redeem the ground rent so payable in such a way that such person
shall become the absolute owner of the dwelling-house to be
purchased by that person.
Payment of 
purchase price.
9. (1) Ten percent (10%) of the agreed purchase price shall
be paid on account of the said price by the applicant on the promise
of sale agreement and the balance of the price shall be paid on the
publication of the deed of sale.
(2) The applicant may, after deducting the amount of the home
purchase assistance grant and the aforesaid ten percent (10%)
payment on account, borrow part of the balance of the purchase
price from a financial institution approved by the Authority but the
amount of the loan shall not exceed the limit laid down in the third
column of Table A annexed to this Scheme according to the
aggregate annual income of the applicant as shown in the first
column of the said Table, and shall be repayable within a maximum
6 [ S.L.328.04
HOME OWNERSHIP (ENCOURAGEMENT) 
(PURCHASE OF PRIVATE DWELLING-HOUSES SCHEME)
period of twenty-five years from the date of the publication of the
deed of sale or not later than the date on which the applicant
becomes sixty-five years of age, whichever is the earlier:
Provided that the amount of the loan which may be
borrowed as aforesaid shall in no case exceed the sum of seven
thousand liri (Lm7,000).
(3) Where an applicant has obtained a loan in accordance with
sub-clause (2) the Authority shall subsidise the interests payable on
the loan so that the interests payable by the applicant shall be at the
rate shown in the second column of Table A annexed to this
Scheme according to the aggregate annual income of the applicant
as shown in the first column of the same Table. No subsidy shall be
payable where the aggregate annual income of the applicant for the
basic year exceeds seven thousand liri (Lm7,000).
(4) The rate of interest payable by the applicant as aforesaid
shall be revised by the Authority every two years on the basis of the
aggregate annual income for the basic year and the amount of the
subsidy payable by the Authority shall also be revised accordingly.
The first revision shall be due on the 1st of July, 1993.
(5) The Authority shall ensure that where the aggregate annual
income of the purchaser in any one year is less than one thousand
seven hundred liri (Lm1,700) the payment of monthly instalments
due in repayment of any loan as aforesaid shall be suspended for a
period of up to three months which may be extended by further
periods of three months provided that the purchaser shall continue
to pay the rate of interest payable by him under this Scheme.
Transfer by the 
beneficiary.
10. (1) Any dwelling-house purchased under this Scheme
shall not be transferred under any title, other than  causa mortis , by
the beneficiary unless he complies with the following provisions of
this clause.
(2) Where the transfer is to take place within ten years from
the date of the deed of sale under this Scheme the beneficiary shall,
before the transfer is effected, pay to the Authority and the
financial institution approved by it under this Scheme, as the case
may be, the whole or part of the value of the sum total of any grant,
subsidy and any other benefit under this Scheme as laid down in the
second column of Table B annexed to this Scheme according to the
length of the period that has passed after the date of the deed of sale
with the Authority as shown in the first column of the said Table.
(3) Where the transfer of the dwelling-house purchased under
this Scheme is to take place after ten years from the date of the
publication of the deed of sale, the beneficiary shall not make any
payment as provided in sub-clause (2) but shall give the Authority
one month’s notice of his intention to transfer the said dwelling-
house and the Authority shall thereupon terminate any arrangement
for the subsidy under this Scheme of any interests payable by the
beneficiary.
Relief from death 
and donation duty.
11. Relief as provided in article 3( b ) of the principal Act is
hereby granted on the death of the beneficiary, and where the
beneficiary is married at the time of the acquisition of the dwelling-
HOME OWNERSHIP (ENCOURAGEMENT) 
(PURCHASE OF PRIVATE DWELLING-HOUSES SCHEME) [ S.L.328.04 7
house, also on the death of the beneficiary’s spouse in respect of
any dwelling-house purchased by a beneficiary under this Scheme
and the provisions of article 6 of that Act shall therefore apply
thereto:
Provided that the aforesaid relief shall only apply in
respect of the first seven thousand liri (Lm7,000) of the value of the
dwelling house.
Right to decontrol 
dwelling-house.
Cap. 158.
12. The right is hereby granted to register under the Housing
(Decontrol) Ordinance a dwelling-house purchased by a
beneficiary under this Scheme and the provisions of article 7 of the
principal Act shall therefore apply thereto.
Manner of 
application and 
administrative 
charge.
13. (1) Any application under this Scheme shall be lodged
personally or by registered mail by the applicant with the Authority
and that application shall not be accepted unless accompanied by
the sum of twenty liri (Lm20) as an administrative charge which
shall be refunded to the applicant on the deed of sale.
Penalty for false 
declarations.
14. (1) If at any time it results that the applicant has made a
false declaration for the purposes of any application made by him
under the provisions of this Scheme the applicant, without
prejudice to any punishment for which he may have become liable
under any other law, shall be liable to the payment to the Authority
of a penalty equivalent to the amount of any grant, subsidy and any
other benefit received by the applicant under this Scheme.
(2) Any person who has made a false declaration as provided
in sub-clause (1) shall be disqualified for a period of five (5) years
from benefiting from any scheme made with the approval of the
Parliamentary Secretary responsible for housing.
Right of refusal 
and of revaluation.
15. (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the foregoing
provisions of this Scheme, the Authority shall have the right to
refuse any application.
(2) The Authority shall have the right to request the
revaluation of a tenement by an architect designated by it where the
Authority considers this to be necessary.
TABLE A
(Clause 9)
First Column Second Column Third Column
Aggregate Annual Income of 
Applicant in Maltese liri Rate of Interest
Limit of Loan not 
exceeding 
Lm7,000, as a 
percentage of the 
balance of purchase 
price*
0 - 1,000 0.5% 100
1,001 - 1,500 1.0% 95
1,501 - 2,000 1.5% 90
2,001 - 2,500 2.0% 85
2,501 - 3,000 2.5% 80
3,001 - 3,500 3.0% 75
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HOME OWNERSHIP (ENCOURAGEMENT) 
(PURCHASE OF PRIVATE DWELLING-HOUSES SCHEME)
TABLE B
(Clause 10)
3,501 - 4,000 3.5% 70
4,001 - 4,500 4.0% 65
4,501 - 5,000 4.5% 60
5,001 - 5,500 5.0% 55
5,501 - 6,000 5.5% 50
6,001 - 6,500 6.0% 45
6,501 - 7,000 6.5% 40
7,001 and over commercial rate 35
* after deducting the Home Purchase Grant and 10% from the purchase
price
First Column Second Column
Period in Years after Date of Deed of Sale 
with the Authority
Repayment of Grant, 
Subsidies, Benefits, etc.
less than 4 ............................................... 100%
4 or more but less than 5 ......................... 90%
5 or more but less than 6 ......................... 80%
6 or more but less than 7 ......................... 70%
7 or more but less than 8 ......................... 50%
8 or more but less than 9 ......................... 30%
9 or more but less than 10 ....................... 10%
